LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. \ 

Chap. 



| Shelf p y 




THE 

INVERTED SCHEME 

OF 

COPERNICUS; 

WITH THE PRETENDED EXPERIMENTS 

UPON WHICH HIS FOLLOWERS HAVE FOUNDED THEIR 

HYPOTHESES OF MATTER AND MOTION, 

COMPARED WITH FACTS, 

AND WITH THE 

EXPERIENCE OF THE SENSES: 

AND THE DOCTRINE OF 

THE FORMATION OF WORLDS OUT OF ATOMS, 

BY THE POWER OF 

GRAVITY AND ATTRACTION, 

CONTRASTED WITH THE FORMATION OF 

ONE WORLD BY DIVINE POWER, 

AS IT IS REVEALED IN 

THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION. 

BOOK THE FIRST. 

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 

A LETTER 

TO 

Sir HUMPHREY DAVY, Bart. 
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



By B. PRESCOT. 



» LIVERPOOL: 

printed by j. lang, drury lane, water street, 
and sold by f. c. and j. rivington, 3, waterloo place, 

and 62, st. Paul's church yard, 
and g. riebau, blandford street, manchester square, 

LONDON j 

AND BY THE BOOKSELLERS IN LIVERPOOL. 



1822. 



" Though in pure mathematics he that can demon- 
strate well may be sure of the truth of a conclusion, 
without consulting experience about it; yet because 
demonstrations are wont to be built upon suppositions 
or postulates; and some things, though not in arith- 
metic or geometry, yet in physical matters, are wont to 
be taken for granted, about which men are liable to 
slip into mistakes; even when we doubt not of the 
ratiocination we may doubt of the conclusion, because 
we may of the truth of some of the things it supposes; 
and this consideration, if there be no other, will I hope 
excuse me to mathematicians for venturing to confute 
some reasonings that are given out for mathematical 
demonstrations. For I suppose it will be considered, 
that those whose presumed demonstrations I examine, 
though they were some of them professors of mathema- 
tics, yet, did not write merely as mathematicians, but 
partly as naturalists; so that to question their tenets 
ought not to disparage those as well certain as excellent 
and most useful sciences pure mathematics, any more 
than that the mathematicians that follow the Ptolemaic, 
the Copernican, the Tychonian, or other systems of the 
world, write books to manifest one another's paralogisms 
in astronomical matters; and therefore it cannot but be 
a satisfaction to a wary man to consult sense about 
these things that fall under the cognizance of it, and to 

EXAMINE BY EXPERIENCE WHETHER MEN HAVE NOT 
BEEN MISTAKEN IN THEIR HYPOTHESES AND REASONINGS." 

Hon. Rob. Boyle's Works, 2nd Vol. page 742. Ed. 1772. 



To 

SIR HUMPHREY DAVY, Bart. 
PRESIDENT 

OF THE 

ROYAL SOCIETY. 

Sir, 

Considering the honorable situation 
you at present occupy, as president of one of 
the most learned societies in the world, I 
naturally suppose you must feel a lively 
interest in whatever tends to the advance- 
ment of science in general; but more particu- 
larly of those branches, for the improvement of 
which, the Royal Society was first instituted. 

The charters granted by King Charles the 
Second, and confirmed by his royal succes- 
sors, I observe expressly state, that the 
society " was ordained, constituted and ap- 
pointed, for the improvement of natural know- 
ledge;' and every person, on becoming a 
member, subscribes an obligation, binding 
himself to promote its advancement and pros- 
perity. That it has, in an eminent degree, 
fulfilled the professed intention of its first 
institution, will readily be admitted by all 

b 



viii 

who have looked into the records of its 
transactions: and when it is considered, that 
those ample volumes contain the results of 
the united labours of its numerous members; 
men of accomplished abilities, and diligent 
students in every department of natural phi- 
losophy; that they have, in succession, zeal- 
ously cultivated each one his favourite sub- 
ject, during one hundred and sixty years; it 
may, at this late period of time, seem almost 
presumptuous in any one to announce, that he 
has something new and useful to submit to 
the consideration of a society so deservedly 
celebrated in the annals of human improve- 
ment: — more particularly when it is further 
considered, how very few subjects, at the 
time when it commenced its labours, remained 
to be examined, that had not previously been 
investigated and illustrated by the venerated 
sages of former times. 

However, Sir, it appears to me, that much 
still remains to be done; and, may I presume 
to add, more, perhaps, remains to be undone. 
It is only necessary to take a cursory view of 
the garden of the sciences, to satisfy our- 
selves, that the plants which are really nutri- 
tive, and the flowers that yield a reviving 
fragrance, bear but a small proportion to the 
useless and noxious weeds that every where 
poison the springs of health, offend the senses, 



ix 



encumber the ground, and obstruct us in our 
mental walks: while the husbandmen have 
slept, enemies have cast in tares, and the 
world is now reaping the bitter harvest. 
Since men, from mercenary and other un- 
worthy motives, became authors by profession: 
since they began to prostitute the immortal 
talent committed to them, by catering for 
the public taste, to gratify the sickly and 
ever-craving appetite for novelty; — these tares 
have multiplied beyond all measure; — and 
the sowers of the pernicious seeds have been 
rapidly advanced to affluence, raised to flat- 
tering distinctions, and to temporary fame. By 
what neglect, or by what means, the garden 
has thus been brought into a state of disorder 
— overshadowed with unprofitable weeds, — 
I shall not further enquire. That it is. so, 
every attentive observer, who possesses a re- 
flecting mind, may easily perceive: and I 
think it is equally obvious that many nations 
are now feeling the calamitous consequences 
of it. Seeing that Wisdom has declared, that 
" the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the 
world;" and in another place, while contem- 
plating prospectively the blessings of a future 
age, the same Divine Source has promised, 
that " wisdom and knowledge shall be the 
stability of it;" — it clearly follows, from the 
daily symptoms of instability in religion, 



X 



philosophy, laws and politics, which is uni- 
versally manifested in all civilized nations, 
that real beneficial knowledge is either ill 
administered, or but little attended to: or, 
that its advancement is impeded by a variety 
of erroneous principles plausibly imposed up- 
on the world by great names, and thought- 
lessly adopted by those to whose care is com- 
mitted the education of the superior ranks of 
society. 

But, to come more immediately to the sub- 
ject of my letter; — it is to one great error 
in public education that I particularly wish to 
call your attention; and I consider this, in its 
tendency, of greater importance than all the 
rest put together. This error, which has 
been considered the glory of our nation, holds 
a conspicuous place in the course prescribed 
to the students at all our universities and 
public schools; — the modern system of 
physics; or, in more precise terms, — the mo- 
dern system of astronomy— the Solar System; 
which combines the Copernican, Keplerian 
and Newtonian hypotheses. I do not hesitate 
to say, that, to hold a firm belief in this 
system, and, at the same time, in the sacred 
records, is an incongruity that cannot ration- 
ally exist in any intelligent and reflecting 
mind. This is a proposition, the substance 
of which, among other things, I have main- 



xi 

tained in the book of which I have now the 
honor to request your acceptance, and to 
recommend to your attentive perusal. 

Until about the period of, what has been 
termed, the revival of learning and the dis- 
covery of the art of printing; the first chap- 
ters of Genesis, among Jews and Christians, 
were generally believed to contain faithful ac- 
counts of the creation of animate and inanimate 
things; and, likewise, of the orderly disposi- 
tion of them, as they appear to us at this day 
in the great constitution of the universe. Why 
this venerable and well authenticated account, 
was so directly opposed, about that particular 
period, by the revival of the fable of Pytha- 
goras, the magician, is a circumstance which, 
at this time, is of no great importance to be 
discussed. One thing, however, is very cer- 
tain, that the art of printing caused the Bible 
to be, comparatively, easy of access; and the 
spread of learning enabled greater numbers of 
people to examine its contents than at any pre- 
ceding period of time. It is equally certain, 
that those writers who first attacked it in its 
very foundation, by the revival of the greek 
fable, were not friendly to the circulation 
of the Holy Scriptures. Why they should 
have been hostile to its beneficial light and 
influence, I cannot tell; unless it were that its 
precepts are favourable to peace and rational 



xii 



liberty, and that its light exposes to feondem- 
nation every thing that is false in principle 
and unjust in practice. The first, it seems, 
who attacked it in that way, was Cardinal 
Nicholas de Cusa; a man who was addicted 
to mathematics and philosophy. Copernicus, 
a canon of Worms, soon succeeded him in the 
work, and laboured with considerable success 
in giving a degree of plausibility to the scheme. 
He was followed in the same course by John 
Kepler, astrologer to the Emperor Rodolf, 
who appears to have been an apt student in 
the Pythagorean tenets ; teaching that " all 
the stars are animated ; and that as all animals 
move by means of their muscles, the earth 
and planets have also muscles proportioned 
to their bulk, which are the instruments they 
move with. The sun has a very noble and 
active soul: his rays put in action the souls 
of the planets." Again, " the faculty of the 
sublunary world perceives and is terrified at 
the comet; and together with it, the faculties 
of all sublunary things. — The faculty of the 
earth being terrified at the unusual appear- 
ance of the comet, in one part of the earth, 
sweats out a great quantity of vapour, accord- 
ing to the quality of that part of its body; 
hence proceed great rains and floods." Fur- 
ther, that the earth was "a vast animal, breath- 
ing out winds through holes in the mountains, 



xiii 



as it were through a mouth and nostrils." He 
promulgated many other fictions and astrolo- 
gical notions; for which " absurdities," as they 
termed them, he was severely censured by 
Bulialdus and Schookius, by way of apology, 
perhaps, for their adoption of some others of 
his curious notions, which I have elsewhere 
noticed and treated of. Galileo, a Florentine 
gentleman, co-operated with Kepler in the 
same cause; but as he could not approve 
of Kepler's laws of muscular motion in the 
planetary bodies ; he propounded other laws 
of motion, by which nature never worked. 
Descartes and Newton afterwards conceived 
other mediums, powers and laws of motion, 
and supported them by symbols, diagrams 
and very elaborate mathematical ratios. The 
system these learned men had adopted, being 
contrary to the scriptures and to the human 
senses, they found it extremely difficult to set 
and keep their imaginary machinery agoing: 
hence the varieties and contradictions in their 
ideal forces and laws of motion. For, when 
men abandon the evidences of nature and the 
lights of experience for the purpose of indulg- 
ing their fancies in the invention of analogies 
and curious hypotheses, philosophy then sinks 
down to the level of romance, and serves to 
occupy the time of the indolent, or to amuse 
and captivate the credulous and ignorant. 



xiv 

But the thing that seems to have caused 
them the greatest inquietude and trouble, was 
what they termed the vulgar prejudice in fa- 
vour of certain opposing passages contained 
in the Bible. This engaged Kepler, Galileo, 
Didacus a Stunica of Salamanca, Paolo Anto- 
nio Foscarini, a carmelite of Naples, Bishop 
Wilkins of Chester, and a number of others, 
to write largely in the way of attempting to 
reconcile, or rather of explaining away, all 
such passages as obstructed the circulation of 
their system. Many volumes were published 
for this extraordinary purpose; but as some 
of their explanations are sufficiently noticed in 
the course of the following pages, it is unne- 
cessary further to advert to them at present. 

It is somewhat remarkable, that those who 
revived the Solar System, should have adopt- 
ed without hesitation, and without exami- 
nation, Ptolemy's system of the distances 
of the heavenly bodies; while at the same 
time, their imaginations, contrary to the evi- 
dence of their sight, placed the fixed stars at 
rest, and, without the least shadow of proof, 
set the earth in rapid motion. Would it not 
have been more rational and prudent, out of 
respect to the senses of mankind and to reli- 
gion, to have retained the ancient opinion of 
the earth being at rest in the centre of the 
universe; and then to have diligently ex- 



XV 



amined, whether the too great distances which 
Ptolemy assigned to the heavenly bodies, 
might not upon scientific principles have 
been diminished? With this correction, and 
other improvements that might have been 
suggested by the accurate observations of 
modern astronomers, all useful and necessary 
purposes might have been answered; and 
Christendom might have been saved from that 
deluge of scepticism, which, amongst the learn- 
ed, now so generally prevails. To me it seems 
a most singular and melancholy fact, that Dig- 
nitaries of the Church, and Heads of Colleges, 
should have been the foremost, and the most 
active, in this war against the sacred records; 
which they ought to have guarded as the ark 
of the holy covenant and by no means to 
have become instruments to hold them up 
to the derision of the sceptical Philistines. 
— For, as an inspired writer emphatically 
said, — If the foundations are destroyed, 

WHAT CAN THE RIGHTEOUS DO? Psalm xi. 3. 

I repeat the words ; — if the foundations be 
destroyed, what can the righteous do? — De- 
stroyed, they cannot be; but if, for a time the 
foundations are even rejected, or removed, and 
men form codes of laws and systems of morals 
and philosophy, upon, comparatively, sandy 
bases, we see by experience the ruinous coii- 



xvi 

sequences that inevitably ensue. The institu- 
tions of society must have some fixed princi- 
ples to rest upon. Enough has happened in 
our own time to illustrate and confirm all 
that I mean by this observation. The more we 
depart from reason, nature and revelation, the 
more we expose ourselves to a perilous navi- 
gation amongst the ever-varying shallows and 
quicksands of wild hypotheses. 

The philosophers, so called, have most 
certainly laboured hard, for two hundred 
years at least, to sap and undermine the very 
foundation upon which rests all that is essen- 
tially valuable in law, morals and religion, — 
the Divine History of Creation; which 
if discredited, so will be the account of, the 
universal deluge, the tenth chapter of Joshua, 
and every other passage wherein almighty 
power is represented as operating in, by, and 
through the elements of created matter. The 
Hebrew people, who were instructed by the 
Supreme Mind itself, for the universal benefit 
of mankind, contemplated Divine Power as 
constantly present, working in all things in 
heaven and in earth ; and so do even the poor 
Indians at this day : but modern refinements 
upon, what are termed, second causes, have 
a direct tendency to banish all such ideas from 
the human mind, and to leave it entangled in 
the webs of sophistry, or to wander amid the 



XVII 

cheerless and uncertain glimmerings of a false, 
barren, and delusive philosophy. 

It is, however, satisfactory to reflect, that 
some of the brightest ornaments of our nation, 
to their great honor, discountenanced these 
attempts, and proved that their understand- 
ings were not to be entrapped in the flimsy 
snares of the mechanical sophists. I need 
only mention a few of the great names who 
flourished in the last century but one. Lord 
Bacon, Sir William Temple, Sir Matthew 
Hale, Sir Thomas Brown, and the Honorable 
Robert Boyle; these celebrated men, either 
declared the hypothesis of the Solar System to 
be chimerical, or they bore positive testimonies 
against it. So did the excellent Sir Henry 
Saville, the founder of the mathematical and 
astronomical professorships at Oxford, which 
still bear his name. The Honorable Edward 
Howard, of Berks, who understood astro- 
nomy well, in the year 1705 dedicated a book 
to the Prince of Denmark, titled, " Coper- 
nicans of all sorts convicted/' In which he 
undertakes to prove, that "their hypothesis 
was astronomically, philosophically, and sen- 
sibly false to all impartial apprehensions." It 
may be reasonably presumed, that these dis- 
tinguished and accomplished men, by their 
great knowledge acquired by learning, expe- 
rience, reflection and extensive observation in 



xviii 



all things, were quite as capable of giving a 
true and impartial judgment upon the subject, 
as an equal number of monks shut up in their 
cloisters, or speculative mathematicians most- 
ly confined to their closets. 

I have said in another place, and I again 
repeat it; if we reject the testimonies of God 
concerning the origin and order of natural 
things, who can vouch for those that are 
spiritual ? Tt is an important question. 
The two together, may be considered, as the 
body and the soul of Divine Revelation; 
and therefore the verity of both should 
be asserted: otherwise human institutions 
would fail, and human authorities would 
vainly endeavour, to preserve the salutary 
influence of the one part, while the other is 
rejected and trampled under foot. This is 
no imaginary statement of the case. If we 
reject those divine records which represent 
God as the creator of the universe; the 
mover of the heavens; as displaying His 
mighty power in the elements ; as all in 
all; to what shall we look for evidence of 
His existence and omnipresence? It was by 
His power manifested in the elements that He 
made Himself known to the people of old, 
both Jews and Gentiles: and in His own book, 
he threatens destruction to those who live in 
luxury, and " do not regard His work nor the 



xix 

operation of His hands." Jt appears to me, 
therefore, that the attention of youth should 
be directed to the operations of this Great 
Power, in preference to that, which, accord- 
ing to La Place, "animates the Solar System." 
The recommendation of that author's book, by 
a late professor, to the students under his 
care, accompanied by a caution against cer- 
tain poisonous principles contained in it, does 
not appear to me to have been an act of 
wisdom. It is by the bewildering jargon of 
the sophists, concerning the imaginary forces 
of second causes, that men thoughtlessly suffer 
themselves to be drawn off and estranged 
from the Great First Cause. 

The publication of a work of seven hundred 
and fifty pages upon the constitution and eco- 
nomy of the universe, without even an allusion 
to a Creator, would scarcely have been coun- 
tenanced under the heathenish institutions of 
ancient Greece and Rome. This, however, 
was done in France; received into the univer- 
sities of other christian countries, and La Place 
was applauded for, (as it was said,) putting 
a finishing hand to the Newtonian System! 
This author has indeed said something about 
nature; but what he meant is not explained: 
One thing is, however, tolerably clear, and 
perhaps that explains his meaning; namely, 
that he imagined every particle of matter to 



XX 



possess the inherent power of moving itself! 
Dr. Robison, professor of natural philosophy 
in the university of Edinburgh, at the close 
of the first volume of his " Mechanical Philo- 
sophy," gently remonstrates, and even re- 
proves him for, — the atheistical tendency of 
some passages in his system of the world. 
He even expresses his grief- — after he had 
recommended the book to his pupils! It would 
appear that the Doctor, in some degree, felt 
the dilemma in which the principles of the 
mechanical philosophy were involving its sup- 
porters, as PROFESSORS OF CHRISTIANITY. " It 

is somewhat amusing,' says he, 44 to remark 
how the authority of Sir Isaac Newton has 
been eagerly catched at, by the atheistical 
sophists, to support their abject doctrines" 
Again, he remarks, 44 the doctrine of universal 
fate, is now founded on Newton s great disco- 
very of gravitation in the inverse ratio of the 
distances." And in another place, 44 thus 
Newton, one of the most pious of mankind, 
was set at the head of the atheistical sect" 
The Doctor, of course, shows great zeal and 
anxiety to acquit the discoveries of his illustri- 
ous master, as he calls him, of all such baneful 
tendency, and he really appears to have lost 
his temper: as a proof of it, he makes a side 
cut at La Place's 44 Corsican Master." — 
44 1 was grieved ," said he, 44 when I first saw 



xxi 

M. de la Place, after having so beautifully epi- 
tomised the philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton, 
conclude his performance with a marked and 
ungraceful parody on the closing reflections of 
our illustrious Master." 

You will recollect, Sir, that Newton, at the 
close of his " Mathematical Principles of Na- 
tural Philosophy," gives a rapid sketch of the 
system of his own creation; and in imitation 
of the Divine Creator, who on a general sur- 
vey of his own stupendous works, " saw that 
every thing he had made was very good;" 
Newton, in like manner, on viewing his work, 
though his system directly contradicted the 
Divine one, magisterially declared it to be 
"most beautiful." Dr. Robison goes a little 
farther; for he says, " those who are able to 
follow the footsteps of Newton over the mag- 
nificent scene," (of his imaginary creation,) 
"must be affected as he was, and must pro- 
nounce all very good" When Newton pub- 
lished his work, scepticism had made no great 
progress, excepting among a few mathematici- 
ans, and therefore, as he had begun his work, 
and even carried it on to the end, without de- 
riving any assistance whatever from the Divine 
History of the Creation, it would seem, in or- 
der to give it currency, that he deemed it pro- 
per to father it upon some ideal Being: he 
therefore declares, that "it could only proceed 



xxii 

from the counsel and dominion of an intelli- 
gent Being." He then proceeds in lofty terms 
to declare what that Being is and what he is 
not; " to discourse of whom, from the appear- 
ance of things," says he, " certainly belongs to 
natural philosophy." 

From this it would appear, that, if we wish 
to know any thing about this Being, we 
must apply to the discourses delivered by the 
High Priests of Gravity and Attraction ! 
La Place having been furnished by Newton 
with Powers, Beings, or Spirits, sufficient 
for his purpose, gives Newton a sly hit upon 
this passage of his book ; hence the notice of 
the marked and ungraceful parody, which of- 
fended the sensitive nerves of professor Robi- 
son. Now, Sir, I call upon the disciples of 
Newton to point out a single passage in their 
books, concerning a Supreme Being, His na- 
ture, attributes and power, that is not infinite- 
ly excelled in the various revelations of Him- 
self which he has been pleased to have record- 
ed in His own book ; or rather, I ask them to 
produce a single passage that will afford us 
any light whatever, on that important subject, 
that was not previously given by himself. 

If indeed we were to rely upon the assertion 
of Sir Isaac Newton, that to discourse of the 
true God certainly belongs to natural philoso- 
phy; we should find, in the first place, as I 



xxiii 

have fully shown, in the following pages, that 
the constant disagreement in opinions amongst 
natural philosophers, would leave us nothing 
to rest our judgment upon; and, in the second 
place, if we could seriously adopt the doc- 
trines of Newton and his followers, concerning 
the perturbations, derangements and destruc- 
tions which they pretend to demonstrate to be 
the inevitable consequences of the properties 
which they ascribe to matter, and to their 
laws of motion; we should form as gross con- 
ceptions of the Divine wisdom and power in 
the formation and economy of the universe, as 
the heathens generally did of his moral attri- 
butes in the government of the nations. In- 
stead of contemplating him as a God of order, 
which he has declared himself to be, — we 
should consider Him in all things quite the 
reverse. In fact, our own works and our own 
imaginations would be the standards of our 
judgment concerning His power and His wis- 
dom. 

With regard to the moving Powers intro- 
duced by Newton into his own system; he 
says " I have explained the phenomena of the 
heavens and our sea by the Power of Gravity: 
but I have not yet assigned the cause of this 
power; but am certain that it penetrates to the 
very centres of the sun and planets." He 
then adds, " hitherto I have not been able to 

d 



xxiv 

discover the cause of those properties of gra- 
vity from phenomena, and I frame no hypo- 
thesis." That is to say, — the cause of an ima- 
ginary power, as I have in another place fully 
shown. What! if such a powerful agent really 
exist, was he not able to assign the cause of 
its properties? Could there be any other than 
the Great First Cause of all things? Could 
not this most pious of mankind, when he read 
the first chapter of Genesis, comprehend, that 
God himself created the peculiar essences, 
properties and qualities of all things, accord- 
ing to their different species, and for their re- 
spective uses? And could he not discover that 
whatever He, in the beginning, created, re- 
mains indestructible and essentially unaltera- 
ble? But it was neither suitable nor conveni- 
ent to his system, to refer to the first chapters 
of Genesis. 

Having, in his void spaces, set his system 
of imaginary worlds agoing by his phantom 
of gravity, of the cause of which he declares 
himself to be ignorant, his imagination then, 
in his concluding paragraph, descends to the 
earth, and he mysteriously and oracularly 
tells us, of " a most subtile, electric, and 
elastic Spirit, which" he says " pervades and 
lies hid" (certainly no one ever saw or felt it,) 
" in all gross bodies. By the force and action 
of which spirit" (amongst other wonders, he 



XXV 



tells us of,) " all sensation is excited, and the 
members of animal bodies move, at the command 
of the will;" (what will?) " namely, by the 
vibrations of this spirit, mutually propagated 
along the solid filaments of the nerves, from the 
outward organs of serase, £o £Ae brain, and yrowt 
£Ae Jram m£o the muscles. But these are things 
that cannot be explained in few words; nor are 
we furnished with that sufficiency of experi- 
ments which is required to an accurate deter- 
mination and demonstration of the laws by 
which this electric and elastic Spirit ope- 
rates" Had he been discoursing of dead 
bodies, he might have applied to resurrection- 
men and made his own experiments, or he 
might have attended at Surgeons' Hall and 
witnessed as many as he wished: but here 
he is discoursing of living bodies; and he 
brings forward a mysterious phantom, or 
spirit, as he terms it, to give sensation and 
motion to animal bodies; and this, without once 
alluding to a Creator, or, which would have 
been virtually the same, — to the first chapter 
of Genesis. But this spirit, it seems, he cannot 
fully unveil to us in a few words for want of 
experiments! Let us, then, see if we cannot 
explain all that can be explained on the sub- 
ject, in a few words, and without experiments. 
Is not God the acknowledged source of life; 
and did not man derive his life immediately 



xxvi 

from his Creator? And is not that life the 
cause of all sensation, motion and will? When 
that life leaves the body; do not sensation, mo- 
tion and will cease? Can any thing more be 
said, or understood, of the matter? What then 
become of the vibrations of Newton's ani- 
mating spirit, commencing its vibrations in 
the outward organs of sense, which are mu- 
tually propagated along the solid filaments of 
the nerves to the brain, and then proceed to 
give muscular motion! Ah! this was all that 
La Place wanted! Newton gave him two 
powers; — one to move inanimate bodies, and 
the other animated bodies. No wonder, then, 
that he sneered at that which Newton intro- 
duced by the by, considering it not only 
superfluous but dangerous. " Far from us," 
says he, " be the dangerous maxim, that it is 
sometimes useful to mislead, to deceive, and 
enslave mankind, to ensure their happiness." 
— That was the sentiment that raised the 
Doctor's ire; for he remarks upon it, and I 
believe truly, " more is meant than meets the 
ear." La Place has, however, done little more 
than spun and woven into a plausible mathe- 
matical dress the reveries of Spinoza and 
Toland, who had preceded him in the same 
cause; both had deified nature; and the 
latter, in particular, adopted the doctrines of, 
motion being essential to matter; a plurality of 



xxvii 

worlds, and the divinity of ;etherial Fire. 
Toland, it appears, was the chaplain and 
secretary to the sect of the Pantheists; and a 
part of their creed, extracted from their 
liturgy, runs thus, "The setherial fire; envi- 
roning all things and therefore supreme 
i — the aether is a reviving fire — it rules all 
things; it disposes all things — in it is soul, 
mind, prudence. This fire is Horace's particle 
of divine breath, and Virgil's inivardly nourish- 
ing spirit — all things are comprised in an 
intelligent nature, — this force they call the 
soul of the world, as also a mind, and perfect 
wisdom, and consequently God." This ex- 
presses more accurately than Newton's admi- 
rers are willing to allow, the meaning of the 
last paragraph of his Principia. 

After maturely reflecting on these things, I 
am no longer surprised that those philoso- 
phers, who could admit the moving powers 
and spirits of Newton, should overlook the 
Great First Cause, and sink their views 
down to the level of materialism. 

Professor Burckhardt, of Gottingen, in his 
account of the " construction of the comet of 
1811," makes the following most wonderful 
remarks. " There is every reason to be- 
lieve, that the nucleus of the present comet is 
nothing more than a conglomeration of 
vapours of very little density, so little per- 



xxviii 



haps as to be transparent. Whether this be 
the case or not, might be easily ascertained, if 
those who are in the habit of observing it 
would watch the moment of its transit athwart 
the disk of some star, the rays of which 
would have sufficient power to perforate it, if 
transparent. Such a body might very possibly 

be AN INCIPIENT WORLD, JUST PAST ITS 

gaseous state, and which was to derive soli- 
dity from the precipitation and condensation of 
the matter surrounding it. The successive 
observation of some comets, in which it may 
be possible to distinguish the different stages 
of chaos and progressive formation, can alone 
furnish any knowledge with respect to this 
point." TillocKs Phil Mag. 

Another passage, (taken from the Phil. 
Trans. 1812,) is no less extraordinary. "The 
brilliant appearance of our small comet, (of 
1807,) may therefore be ascribed either to its 
having but lately emerged from a nebulous con- 
dition, or to having carried off some of the 
nebulous matter, situated in the far extended 
branch of its parabolic motion. The first 
of these cases will lead us to conceive hoiv 
planetary bodies' (worlds) " may begin to have 
an existence; and the second, how they may in- 
crease, and, as it were, grow up to maturity? 

Here, Sir, you see the Newtonian doctrines, 
as they were unfolded by that philosopher to 



xxix 

his disciple Mr. Conduit, divested of their 
mask; the Divine account of creation in effect 
set aside; and the Epicurean system of atoms, 
as it was explained by Lucretius, openly pro- 
claimed by the Royal Society of England to 
the whole world! The superstitious doctrine 
of the gymnosophists concerning the transmi- 
gration of souls, when compared to this, was 
quite innocent and rational. Let any one 
read and reflect upon the Almighty power 
and wisdom, as it is described in the first 
chapter of Genesis, and in other parts of the 
sacred scriptures, and compare those ac- 
counts with these statements — of incipient 
worlds; conglomerations of vapour, just 
past their gaseous state; emerging from a 
nebulous condition, and gradually grow- 
ing up to maturity! O wonderful, most 
wonderful ! I can scarcely bring my mind to 
believe, that these learned men are not delibe- 
rately playing off experiments on human cre- 
dulity; or that they have not a secret design 
to bring real science into contempt. However 
this may be; by their constant promulgations 
of wonders which none can discover besides 
themselves, for want, as it is pretended, of 
optics equally powerful as those which these 
philosophers possess, their opinions and doc- 
trines are listened to and received with re- 
spect; their speculations are read before the 



XXX 



learned societies of Christendom, and actually 
recorded amongst their transactions without 
note or comment! Is it possible that those 
who conceive such doctrines, or, that those 
who receive them, can have read and believed 
in the Divine History of Creation; or, that 
they can even have seriously reflected upon the 
wonderful wisdom displayed in the formation 
of any one part of the real creation which is 
within their reach, and upon the abundance 
of which they are hourly enjoying themselves? 
In the real creation, which was put into our 
possession, there is enough to employ all our 
knowledge and all our energies, without having 
our attention perpetually called off to the wild 
creations of fancy: And I respectfully submit 
to your consideration, whether in the first for- 
mation of your learned society, such an employ- 
ment of the intellectual powers was ever for a 
moment contemplated. It was instituted for 
the improvement of natural knowledge. Our 
first father, Adam, was placed in the garden to 
dress and cultivate it; not to run out of it after 
shadows. If, however, our learned men, 
overlooking the duties imposed upon them by 
Divine Revelation, and by the nature and con- 
stitution of civilized society, will still per- 
severe in publishing their romances; and if 
those who occupy the principal seats in our 
universities will still continue to approve and 



xxxi 

encourage them, I shall continue to be deci- 
dedly of opinion, that all the whining — grief — 
and anxiety manifested by Dr. Robison, or 
any others of Newton's adulators, will be 
found quite inefficient in stemming the wide- 
spreading contagion of scepticism and infi- 
delity. 

The learned St. Paul, in the second chapter 
of his second epistle to the Thessalonians, 
mentions, that a time would come when there 
would be a great falling away from the faith; 
and that a certain thing would be revealed 
which he calls a strong delusion, and which 
he personifies as the man of sin " who ex- 
alteth himself above all that is called God, or 
that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in 
the temple of God, (the universe*) showing 
himself that he is God." Who, or what, can 
this man of sin be, that is exalted to the attri- 
butes and prerogatives of Almighty God? 
For philosophers, so called, to attempt to 
substitute, even in idea, any other power in 
their imaginary and delusive creation and 
economy of the universe, is a monstrous con- 
ception of folly ; and to publish it is, in my 
opinion, the blackest treason against govern- 
ments and nations; inasmuch as it has a direct 
tendency to draw them away from a know- 

* Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is 
my footstool. Isaiah lxvi. 

e 



xxxii 

ledge of their Creator, and thereby to loosen, 
and even to cut asunder, every bond that 
holds civilised society together. 

Does it then require any great stretch of 
imagination to believe, that the time of these 
lying wonders, as he terms them, is arrived? 
You, Sir, have had an extensive intercourse 
with learned men, and you must therefore be 
well acquainted with their sentiments, by 
conversing with them and by reading their 
books. You will see further on, in the same 
chapter, that God will destroy this delusion 
" by the spirit of his mouth, and with the 
brightness of his coming;" — by the power and 
splendour of Truth. Several eminent men 
have expressed their feelings with a lively 
concern upon the same subject. The Rev. 
William Jones, who was justly deemed an or- 
nament of your society, differed with Newton 
upon some important points; and, in the in- 
troduction to his Physiological Disquisitions, 
he thus delivers his sentiments. " Late dis- 
coveries have again filled the world with 
matter, and revived the knowledge of those 
powers which the heathens knew and wor- 
shipped. A vacuum is, or will be forgotten; 
and the elements are likely to be restored, as 
of old, to their proper offices in nature, I have 
long foreseen, or feared I did, that whenso- 
ever this should come to pass, the light of 



xxxiii 



Christianity, with all the warnings and threat- 
enings of the scripture, would scarcely be 
found sufficient to secure us from relapsing 
into the ancient error, and taking once more 
the elements for the Gods that govern the world; 
ascribing intellectual powers to organised mat- 
ter, and smothering the distinction between 
body and spirit; which is the philosophy of 
materialism; an unhappy system, which has 
always had its advocates, but can recommend 
itself only to the half learned, inflated with 
the vanity of false wisdom, and destitute of 
the principle which the scripture calls by the 
name of Faith. In this plan, I have no share: 
and it is part of the design of this work to 
guard the learned against it, and point out a 
more excellent way." 

It would indeed be well, if practicable, to 
guard the learned against these things. As 
for the mass of the unlearned, I hope there is 
no great danger; for, as they generally make 
use of their senses, they feel but little interest- 
ed concerning doctrines, in which philosophers 
magisterially teach, that the senses can ren- 
der no discriminating assistance — that they are 
in fact illusory. The unlearned are, besides, 
attached to an ancient opinion, that the senses 
were given to man, as beneficial guides to 
real information respecting natural phenomena; 
our fathers have instructed us to make use of 



xxxiv 



our senses, and experience convinces us that 
we ought to do so. The system of philosophy 
in question is, I believe, the only one ever pro- 
mulgated, in which the aid of the senses has 
been contemned and proscribed; for no other 
reason than because they constantly bear wit- 
ness against it. But as, in the progress of 
this delusion, those who make use of their 
senses, may suffer by the arts of those who 
oppose and reject them: it seems high time 
seriously to enquire, whether the senses and 
the scriptures were given to deceive us; and 
whether we are to surrender both, for the sole 
purpose of allowing philosophers an open 
field to juggle mankind out of all that is safe, 
practical and useful; and, instead of which, to 
introduce all sorts of inanities and pernicious 
romances? It is of importance to enquire, 
whether the authors and promoters of such 
principles are (perhaps undesignedly) the great 
pioneers of revolutions? For, if the foun- 
dations are removed, nothing can stand; nor 
can any thing solid and durable be erected. 
It is further of importance to enquire, whether 
the great giants and architects of blasphemy, 
are to be flattered, applauded and raised to 
honors, while the pigmies and retail venders, 
are to be punished and put down? Above 
all, it is of great importance seriously to en- 
quire, what power we should look to as the 



XXXV 



creator, the governor, and the preserver of the 
universe? Whether to the imaginary power, 
or powers, which philosophers have proudly 
raised up in the temple of nature, or to the real 
One, which, as the people have been taught 
to believe, created and sustains all things? 
Whether princes, governors, magistrates and 
people, are to look for safety and protection 
to the self-moving atoms of Epicurus; the 
setherial fire of Toland; the moving and ani- 
mating powers and spirits of Newton and 
La Place; or to the One God revealed to 
them in the scriptures. Whether we are to 
believe the dogmas of those philosophers, or 
the Books of Moses and the prophets? And, 
lastly, whether we are any longer to consider 
Divine Revelation the main pillar of thrones 
and governments, and the firm rock upon 
which to found the stability and prosperity of 
all nations? I hope these enquiries will, 
before long, be seriously instituted: for my 
own part I should feel no anxiety as to the 
issue. And I further hope, that when you 
have read and reflected on what I have writ- 
ten, I shall not be asked, as a physician 
to His late Majesty once asked one of the 
learned members of your society, " What has 
religion to do with philosophy?" But he 
was not singular in that opinion; it is too 
common. Others, holding similar views, pre- 



xxxvi 



sumptuously demand to know, " what religion 
has to do with politics?" Thus, they would 
dispense with the Divine Government both in 
heaven and in earth: they would thus appro- 
priate all the glory to their own plans and to 
their own management, and pilfer to them- 
selves what exclusively bekmgs to God. Is 
it not therefore high time to remove "the 
accursed thing" from the camp? Until this 
be done, all attempts to suppress blasphemy 
will be utterly in vain. 

Many learned and excellent men have 
clearly seen the fallaciousness of Sir Isaac 
Newton's principles of creation and of planet- 
ary motion; and likewise the pernicious ten- 
dency of his leading doctrines; and they have, 
from time to time, attempted to introduce other 
hypotheses of their own, that would have been 
more consonant to our senses, and of course 
less contradictory to the sacred writings: but 
it has been all in vain to attempt to oppose 
hypothesis to hypothesis. Most, if not all of 
them, seem to have taken for granted the ap- 
plicability of his real or imaginary experi- 
ments and the truth of his assumed facts, 
without ever putting them to the test of ex- 
amination : it seems to have been gratuitously 
admitted, that his system rested upon a 
mathematical basis: but the truth is, that the 
foundations of it are altogether imaginary and 



xxxvii 



fallacious, and therefore all his mathematical 
diagrams and ratios grounded thereon are false 
and delusive. That excellent man and most 
accomplished scholar, Mr. George Walker, 
lately a member of your society, in the close 
of his Essay on Learning and the Arts, has 
adverted with great force and elegance to the 
sceptical productions of Spinoza, Hobbes, 
Lord Herbert, Chubb, Tindal, Hume, Rous- 
seau, and others; but the insidious works of 
the great mathematical sophists seem to have 
escaped his notice: had he even suspected 
their impositions, his great abilities would 
have enabled him to have thoroughly detected 
them, and, I am persuaded, that his integrity 
would have armed him with resolution to 
have publickly exposed their delusions to the 
world. I have given ample proofs of the 
pernicious consequences to which the main 
dogmas of this philosophy inevitably lead: 
is it not therefore a duty to examine the 
grounds, if any, upon which they rest? And 
if they are found to be fallacious and there- 
fore untenable, is it not likewise a duty to 
try to substitute something else in the room 
of them? Something with which our senses, 
our reason, and the scriptures shall all har- 
monize? 

Under these impressions, I have diligently 
examined the Solar System, which compre- 



xxxviii 



hends the Copernican, Keplerian and New- 
tonian hypotheses. In this system every thing 
is inverted and exaggerated, and my first 
book, which I now present to you, is appro- 
priated to an exposition of the false bases 
upon which it rests. I might have extended 
my comments upon it to the size of a large 
volume; but it is fighting with shadows, and 
I have no wish either to take up the time of 
my readers, or to fatigue myself further upon 
so unprofitable a subject. What I have writ- 
ten I deem to be quite sufficient for the 
purpose of holding it up to the scorn and 
reprobation of every intelligent and reflecting 
mind. 

In my second book, which I hope to have 
soon ready for the press, I have formed a 
system that will neither contradict the scrip- 
tures, nor oppose the experience of the senses; 
one which will prove, that there is no occasion 
for the imaginary expedients of earthly mo- 
tion, incredible distances, magnitudes, and 
velocities; that wholly dispenses with the 
mathematical fictions of the theory of gravity, 
projectile forces, and all the perturbations 
ascribed to them; that rejects the unfounded 
doctrines of void spaces; the deformities 
of elliptical orbits and oblate spheroids; 
the superstitious multiplication of imaginary 
worlds; together with all the inflated rodo- 



xxxix 

montades of world-destroying, and sun-feeding 
comets. 

My plan combines what is solid and use- 
frl, but rejects all that is hypothetical and 
false, in the systems of those who have gone 
before me. It rejects the solid orbs of Cal- 
lippus and Aristotle, but admits, with them 
and Ptolemy, the immobility of the earth; the 
diurnal motion of the heavens; the unchange- 
able positions of the fixed stars in reference 
to each other, and their invariable latitudes to 
the ecliptic: but it rejects Ptolemy's epicycles, 
the immense distances he assigned to the 
planets, and his supposed positions of the 
centres of their orbits. It so far agrees with 
the system of Tycho Brahe as to admit nearly 
his arrangement of the planetary courses, 
with the exception of his epicycles and his 
Ptolemaic distances. The mixed system of 
Ricciolus, formed upon the scheme of Hera- 
clides and Ecphantus, as mentioned by Plu- 
tarch, is of no importance to be noticed, 
because it ascribes a rotatory motion to the 
earth, but none in an orbit. 

The distances I have adopted and demon- 
strated, leave no room for any other worlds 
than the one which God has informed us He 
created for the use of man and the other 
creatures which he placed upon it. I have 
proved that the planets move in circular 

/ 



xl 

orbits; such only being natural to them; and 
from such, distances and such orbits as I have 
described, I have by easy mathematical calcu- 
lations deduced the principal equations. 

How far I have succeeded in promoting the 
interests of useful science, the learned will 
hereafter judge: and, as I do not write with 
lucrative views, I trust they will give me 
credit, at least, for friendly intentions. The 
grounds I have taken I know to be solid, and 
I shall leave them to others to build and 
improve upon as may be deemed useful and 
proper. 

In thus submitting my performance to you, 
Sir, to be laid before the illustrious society 
over which you preside, in case you should 
think it proper to do so, I merely discharge 
what appears to me to be an act of duty. 

I have the honor to be, 

Sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

B. PRESCOT. 

Houghton Street, Liverpool, 
10th March, 1822. 



xli 



P. S. On looking over a catalogue of Sir 
Isaac Newton's manuscripts and papers, as 
annexed to a bond, given by Mr. Conduit to 
the administrators of Sir Isaac; by which he 
obliged himself to account for any profit he 
might make by publishing any of the papers; 
I find that Newton treated on the following 
important subjects; namely, Church History; 
Prophetic Style; Temple of Solomon; The 
Sanctuary ; Corruptions of Scripture; Para- 
doxical questions concerning Athanasius ; Work- 
ing of the Mystery of Iniquity ; Theology of 
the Heathens ; Account of the contest between 
the Host of Heaven and the transgressors of the 
Covenant; History of the Prophecies, Dr. 
Pellett, it appears, by agreement of the execu- 
tors, entered into acts of the Prerogative Court, 
and was appointed to peruse all the papers, 
and judge which were proper for the press. 
He accordingly did peruse them, and judged 
those enumerated above, not fit to be published. 
One cannot help enquiring, why they were not 
fit to be published? We have been told over 
and over again, that he was sent by Heaven 
to remove the veil that covered nature, and to 
enlighten mankind ; and yet, notwithstanding 
that assurance, we have evidence laid before 
us, that he, with incalculable pains, wrote 
perhaps eight or ten folio volumes, upon the 
most important matters, which were not fit to 



xlii 



be published! " It is astonishing," says his 
biographer, " what care and industry Sir Isaac 
had employed about the papers relating to 
Church History, Chronology, &c. as, on ex- 
amining the papers themelves, which are in 
the possession of the family of the Earl of 
Portsmouth, it appears that many of them 
are copies over and over again, often with 
little or no variation; the whole number being 
upivards of 4000 sheets in folio, f 16000 pages!) 
or 8 reams of folio paper, beside the bound 
books, fyc. in this catalogue, of which the num- 
ber of sheets is not mentioned. Of these 
4000 sheets, exclusive of the bound books, 
there have been published only the Chronolo- 
gy, and Observations on the Prophecies of 
Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John." 
There must be some great mystery in the con- 
demnation and suppression of this mass of the 
pious labours of this " Pride of the Seventeenth 
Century," as the Monthly Reviewers term 
him, — this " name which far surpasses that of 
Princes." 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. Page. 
Introductory remarks; on Scepticism; the doctrine of a 
Plurality of Worlds ; information of the ancient Hebrews in 
the arts and sciences, &c 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Adoption of the Newtonian Hypothesis by the Royal Society 
of London and the honor of the nation identified with it; 
those who reject that system pronounced, by one of its sup- 
porters, to be the worst of heretics; extravagant praises of 
Newton by his followers; their poetical eulogium and creed 
commented on; the Copernican scheme not adopted by the 
most eminent philosophers who flourished in the seventeenth 
century 30 

CHAPTER III. 

Enumeration of Astronomical Systems; Newtonian doctrine 
of Worlds forming themselves out of solar vapour and sedi- 
ments of light; of Hell, according to the belief of some of 
Newton's followers, being placed in the Sun, and the destruc- 
tion, or renovation, of Worlds by falling into it; of the Earth 
being formed out of the atmosphere of a Comet according to 
Whiston; of an Earth and a Heaven with its Luminaries 
within our Earth, according to Dr. Halley ; and of Planets, 
according to La Place, forming themselves out of dense Solar 
Atmospheres 50 

CHAPTER IV. 

On the Newtonian Theory of Gravity ; its application to 
account for the planetary motions, and to weigh the Sun and 
Planets; to explain the ebbing and flowing of the Tides; to 
remedy the decays of the Universe, by the occasional destruc- 
tion of old Suns, and the formation of them into new ones in 
the Herschellian Laboratories of the universe ! 70 

CHAPTER V. 

On Comets; Newtonian doctrines concerning their incon- 
ceivable velocities, heat, periodical appearances and horrible 
consequences; one of them so deranged by gravity that even 
Astronomers do not know what is become of it; alarming and 
contradictory opinions of philosophers ; the vulgar opinion 
uniform and rational 100 



xliv 



CHAPTER VI. Page. 
On the supposed diurnal motion of the Earth, founded on 
the Newtonian experiments of the Spindle and soft Ball of 
Clay, Iron Hoop, Mop, Pendulum, and Measurements of a 
Degree on the Earth; opposite conclusions of philosophers. . . 120 

CHAPTER VII. 
The imaginary motion of the Earth in an orbit, contra- 
dicted by sight, reason and Scripture; the tenth chapter of 
Joshua, and the thirty-eighth of Isaiah, troublesome obstacles 
to philosophers ; elaborate attempts of Bishop Wilkins, Kepler, 
and others, to explain away certain passages; Critical remarks 
on the Hebrew names of the Sun, Moon, and other Heavenly 
Orbs; Searches in heaven for confirmation of the oblate 
figure of the Earth ; disagreement amongst the Newtonians 
concerning the apparent forms of the Planets 132 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Theories of the Atmosphere, and Void Spaces for 
Planetary Motion refuted by decisive facts ; the actual state 
of the Ocean an irresistible proof against the theories of the 
Atmosphere, Gravity, and Earthly Motion 157 

CHAPTER IX. 

Science of Optics known many hundred years anterior to 
the time of Galileo, though not employed to discover Earths 
in Heaven ; Newtonian maxims overturned by the observa- 
tions of Mr. Baldwin in his aerial voyage from Chester, by the 
dark nature of earthly bodies, and by the evidence exhibited 
in the Stars 173 

CHAPTER X. 

Distances of the Heavenly Bodies; the methods proposed by 
Astronomers to ascertain them shown to be inapplicable and 
therefore useless; contradictory accounts of philosophers re- 
specting the distances of Jupiter's Satellites from his body, and 
likewise respecting the diurnal revolutions of the Planets; the 
character given by Diodorus Siculus of the Greek Philosophers 
strictly applicable to modern ones; natural evidences of the 
Deity stated by St. Paul, and exemplified in the conduct of 



Socrates; Poetical conclusion - 188 

To which are added, some remarks on the Tides at Liver- 
pool, and a table of their heights at the Full and Change of the 
Moon for ten years 211 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ; ON SCEPTICISM; THE 
DOCTRINE OF A PLURALITY OF WORLDS; INFORMA- 
TION OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWS IN THE ARTS AND 
SCIENCES, &c. 



That illustrious character, whom the Almighty God 
raised up to be a leader and instructor to the Hebrew 
nation, and, through them, to give laws to the world ; 
when he had conducted them to the borders of their 
destined inheritance, he crowned the labours of his 
divine mission by that memorable charge which he 
delivered when committing to their custody the Sacred 
Books. Having impressively contrasted the infinite 
advantages of obedience with the fatal consequences of 
rebellion against the divine precepts, he emphatically 
reminded them of the many awful events of which 
they had been eye witnesses, as being so many unques- 
tionable evidences of the superintending care, unbond- 
ed power and constant presence of that awful Being by, 
whom those statutes were revealed. These statute^ 
he therefore enjoined them perpetually to meditate 
upon — to teach to their children from generation to 
generation, and for ever to prize the inestimable gift as 
their own peculiar inheritance. But concerning such 
matters as God had reserved to himself and not revealed, 
which philosophers and divines wrangle so much about, 
he seemed to discountenance vain curiosity, or presump- 
tuous interference, as being exclusively the divine pre- 
rogative. " The secret things," said he, " belong to 

B 



2 



Jehovah our God, but those things which are revealed 
belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may 
do all the words of this law." 

Now as the historical accounts of those marvellous 
displays of divine power, which the whole nation had 
witnessed, were accompanied by and interspersed in the 
body of the written laws ; and the whole deposited with 
them in the most solemn and open manner by the very 
man who had for forty years acted in their presence, as the 
distinguished instrument of omnipotence ; those records 
were of course received by the whole nation as incontro- 
vertible memorials of eternal truth ; and as such they 
have been perpetually embraced, preserved and handed 
down from generation to generation, as we see them at 
this day. 

If the Hebrews had not certainly known the historical 
facts recorded in the Books in question to be undoubted 
divine truths, they never would have received them as 
such : much less would they have preserved and defended 
at the risk of the loss of their property and lives, for 
more than three thousand years, records, which so far 
from nattering false prejudices or encouraging evil pro- 
pensities, are principally filled with admonitions against 
immoral indulgences or criminal acts; the penalties of 
disobedience; the catalogues of their offences and the con- 
sequent punishments of Divine Justice. Therefore, for 
these and an abundance of other reasons which might be 
produced, every intelligent man, who seriously considers, 
that all effects are necessarily produced by corresponding 
causes, and who in other respects cultivates ratiocination 
with a due regard to useful information, ought, I con- 
ceive, upon the most solid grounds of argument, to 
admit, that the revealed communications in question are 
strictly authentic and divine. 



3 



There are many persons, notwithstanding, who fol- 
lowing the example of others, or for want of sufficient 
industry to examine the Volume with due attention : 
being also probably puffed up with imaginary science, 
or unwilling to view themselves by that light which ex- 
poses false positions ; have in this age embarked in a 
war of opposition to those divine testimonies; and have 
even published books for the avowed purpose of crying 
down the credibility of their contents. They have re- 
presented them as not only opposed to philanthropy and 
sound morality ; but likewise to what are termed the 
sciences, as well as to the useful and elegant arts of 
civilization. I suspect however, that if such opposers 
would express their real thoughts upon the matter, with 
the candour they profess, the true ground of their hos- 
tility would be found to exist in the opposition which 
that renowned Volume exhibits against the maxims and 
the practices of libertinism ; the views of the seditious ; 
and the inflated pride of the vain sophists. 

But it would be foreign to the subject in hand to 
notice at considerable length the shallow and erroneous 
views of such writers. I shall quote only a passage or 
two from one of the most plausible of them, for the pur- 
pose of shewing how undeservedly a man may become 
extremely popular among the inconsiderate. This man 
set himself against both divine and human institutions : 
and an ill formed understanding, with an uncommonly 
arrogant disposition, seem to have peculiarly fitted him 
for the hardy undertaking. The following passages are 
not selected because they contain more falsehood than 
others of equal length in other parts of his books, but 
because they touch upon the subject which I am about 
to discuss, and also corroborate the observations I have 
just made. 



4 



" Though," says he, i( it is not a direct article of the 
Christian system, that this world which we inhabit is the 
whole of the habitable creation, yet it is so worked up 
therewith from what is called the Mosaic account of the 
creation, that to believe otherwise ; that is, to believe that 
God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous 
as what we call stars, renders the Christian System of 
Faith at once little and ridiculous ; and scatters it in the 
mind like feathers in the air. The two beliefs cannot be 
held together in the same mind, for he who thinks that 
he believes both has thought but little of either." 

It certainly is a direct article of the Christian faith to 
believe the first chapter of Genesis, which mentions the 
creation of one habitable world only. It is evident that 
Christ and his Apostles believed in that chapter, by their 
occasional references to the authority of it. How one 
thing can be rendered ridiculous by believing in another, 
without knowledge, I cannot conceive. It is clear from 
what follows, that he had investigated very little into the 
principles of either system ; and, respecting the one he 
adopted, he seems to have been as credulous as a devotee 
at Loretto who believes all that the priests tell to excite 
his wonder and fanaticism. 

The same writer, after having described what he terms 
the worlds of the Solar System, and dogmatically assured 
his readers, without offering, or being in possession of a 
single proof in support of his belief, that " the circum- 
ference of the Solar System is five thousand millions of 
miles," goes on to give proofs in confirmation of his 
belief in the existence of millions of worlds; — they are 
no doubt as strong as any others he could have adduced, 
but, unluckily for his object they fail. — they are no proofs 
at all. But let them speak for themselves. 



5 



cc If," says he, " it should be asked, how can man 
know these things ? I have one plain answer to give. 
Which is that man knows how to calculate an eclipse; and 
also how to calculate to a minute of time when the pla- 
net Venus, in making her revolution round the Sun, 
will come in a straight line between our earth and the 
sun, and will appear to us about the size of a large pea 
passing across the face of the sun. As therefore man 
could not be able to do those things if he did not under- 
stand the Solar System, and the manner in which the 
revolutions of the several planets or worlds, are per- 
formed, the fact of calculating an eclipse, or a transit of 
Venus, is a proof in point that the knowledge exists ." 

No, no, that is no proof in point that the knowledge 
exists — it proves nothing more than the ignorance and 
extravagant presumption of the writer. The science of 
calculating eclipses was known some thousands of years 
before computations were formed upon the hypothesis of 
the Solar System; nor is it of any real use in such cal- 
culations. The writings which are extant of Ptolemy;* 
the Arabian astronomers; Tycho Brahe, and others, suf- 
ficiently prove the falsehood of his assertions : were it 
not for the assistance derived from their works, or others 
compiled from them, there is not a Newtonian who could 
calculate an eclipse at all. Therefore the positive asser- 

* Mr. Good, in a note to his recent translation of " De Rerum 
Natura," says, " It is curious enough to observe that in the science 
of geography the old theory of Ptolemy is yet, ostensibly at least, 
adhered to, and the sun is still represented as travelling round the 
immoveable earth; an absurdity which is infinitely perplexing to chil- 
dren, and which cannot too soon be relinquished." Be assured, Mr. 
Good, the theory of Ptolemy, or rather the certain evidence of the 
senses, cannot be relinquished : to attempt such a thing, in the edu»- 
cation of children, would indeed be madness; and if any teacher 
could have the folly to attempt it, even the very children would ] ] 
laugh in his face. The Creator, in the beginning, irrevocably or- 
dained such an inseparable union, harmony, and correspondence 



6 



tion, that it could not be done without a knowledge of 
the Solar System, is quite worthy of him who had the 
blasphemous hardihood to assert, that " any one could 
make such a Book as that which is called the word 
of God." I am quite amazed that the multitude of this 
man's followers have so long continued to consider him a 
profound writer. But it seems he had adopted the creed 
of Halley, and that, he, no doubt, imagined would fully 
bear out his assertion, that " every evidence the heavens 
afford to man either directly or indirectly contradicts 
the Christian system \\" 

Such are the conclusions to which this boasted hypo- 
thesis naturally leads ! But, however Newton's vanity 
might be flattered when the sceptical Dr. Halley impor- 
tuned him to publish, what he termed his a Mathema- 
tical principles of natural philosophy," I can scarcely 
believe, from what I have read of his moral and reli- 
gious character, that he would willingly, could he have 
foreseen the consequences, have sent abroad in a magis- 
terial, academical style, a parcel of crude notions of so 
pernicious a tendency. But at that time fine spun the- 
ories were, in Europe, the universal rage: mathematical 
calculation and physical experiments were every where 
considered to be occupations of paramount importance. 
Upon those subjects Newton proved himself to be the 
most acute disputant; sceptical sophists therefore ap- 
plauded him, and he sent forth his works without due 
reflection; — he received public honors, and as it is re- 
ported, afterwards wanted resolution to retract what he 
had done. 

between the organs of sense and the motions, forms, and operations 
of created things, both in heaven and in earth, that every attempt to 
oppose and contradict that divine constitution of things by abstract 
sophistry, appears to me to be as vain and presumptuous as the 
foolish conduct of the proud giants of old, who were metaphorically 
described as having impiously made war against heaven. 



7 



Some writers I know wish to defend the credit of both 
systems, and, by curious criticism on certain Hebrew 
words, they endeavour to reconcile them; but it is in 
vain to attempt it;-^as soon would gold and chaff unite 
in the constitution of one solid compact body. In the 
one, divine information, sense, and reason harmonize; 
but, by the dogmas of the other, all are opposed and con- 
tradicted. Both believers and unbelievers in divine reve- 
lation, have long since made their election in favour of 
the human system; but whether it be of that belief 
which preponderates in the scales of truth, the wise in all 
nations will I hope, before long, attentively examine and 
judge for themselves. My own opinion, however, is, 
that the sceptics have not even attempted seriously to 
place them in the balances; and moreover that they have 
not scrupled to adopt artful plausibilities upon the mere 
credit of the propagators of them, at the same time that 
they have rudely dismissed the sublime and venerable 
majesty of truth, eradiated with light and surrounded by 
a numerous assemblage of evidences, natural, human 
and divine, of all ages and all civilized nations. Such 
conduct is certainly no proof of the present being the 
age of reason, but it sufficiently proves, that many de- 
spise its influence and speak evil of those things which 
they know not. But I am not at all inclined to inveigh 
with severity against this class of writers, though in ge- 
neral their manner is sufficiently illiberal. That they 
have heartily joined in a war against the beneficent dis- 
pensations of the Almighty to man, is certain; but they 
have fought only with the weapons of those who com- 
bated before them in the same warfare: therefore they 
must be left to the decision of truth, which, though sim- 
ple in its form, and, at present, to appearance, but weak 
in its means, will in due time, I trust, like the sling stone 



8 



of David, strike with such force as will effectually bring 
down every such boasting Goliath to the ground. There- 
fore let the validity' of their own words be tried; — let 
them stand by the judgment of truth, or fall by its just 
condemnation. 

A geographical author, who wrote nearly 200 years 
ago, mentions, "that being once invited to the table of 
that learned mathematician and astronomer, Sir Henry 
Saville, (who was tutor to Queen Elizabeth,) and having 
entered into some familiar discourses concerning astro- 
nomical suppositions, he asked him his opinion of the 
hypothesis of Copernicus, who held the sun to stand fixt 
and the earth to be subject to a triple motion. Sir 
Henry pleasantly answered, that he cared not which were 
true so the appearances were solved and the account 
exact; both ways, said he, either the old of Ptolemy, or the 
new of Copernicus would indifferently serve an astrono- 
mer; is it not all one, added he, sitting at table, whe- 
ther my table be brought to me, or I go to my table, so I 
eat my meat?" Therefore for any one to roundly assert, 
that the calculation of eclipses cannot be accomplished 
without a knowledge of the Solar System, and that such 
calculation is a proof in point of the fallacy of the Chris- 
tian system, only exposes the falsehood of its adversary, 
which together with the abundance of other proofs of in- 
capacity, manifest throughout his lucubrations, as well 
as those of others who have written in the same cause, 
ought to open the eyes of their deluded encomiasts; 
who, without hesitation, seem to have swallowed the 
palpable falsehoods as so many delicious mathematical 
truths. 

When men from an ardent thirst after interest, or lite- 
rary distinction, rise up against the evidences of nature 
and the laws of heaven, as well as of the tried maxims of 



9 



the ancients ; there is scarcely any absurdity too gross 
for their adoption. A philosopher of the same sceptical 
sect, whose writings are pretty voluminous and who 
by that class of reasoners has been highly praised;* 
endeavoured, about twenty-six years ago, to persuade 
himself and his readers, that the infirmities of age 
might be prevented if people would only persevere in 
the exercises of youth; and he really seemed to think 
that even immortality itself depended upon our own will ! 
The spirit of fanaticism is always the same and produces 
the like effects, whether operating upon philosophers 
or religionists; it leads men to despise experience, and 
to adopt and act upon whatever notion may be blown 
into the mind, without ever bringing it fairly to the test 
of reason and nature; which renders them liable to be 
driven about like weather-cocks by every wind of false 
doctrine, or to be entangled in a thousand snares and 
labyrinths of literary plausibilities: while at the same 
time the Book of Truth is passed by unheeded, though 
its steady and ever-during light was designed in the first 
place to lead men to the pure principles of unerring 
science, and then to admonish them of the consequences 
of rejecting the inestimable benefits imparted. 

The Almighty having in the beginning, by his infinite 
wisdom, planned; and by his almighty power called into 
existence the stupendous fabrick of the universe, con- 
cluded his glorious works by pronouncing that every 
thing he had made was good; and commanded a record 
to be made of the divine order of succession in which 
the various parts of visible matter, as well as the prin- 
cipal distinctions of animated creatures, were produced. 
To the mind of man, as a reflex mirror of the world, he 

* The author of " Political Justice, &c." Condorcet is said to 
have held the same opinion. 

C 



10 



gave faculties of sense to enable him truly to discover, 
and also rational and contemplative powers to consider 
the whole that had been created; to compare the 
harmony of operation with the fidelity of description; 
and to behold in both the ever existing monuments of 
his glory and of his beneficence to all creatures, but pre- 
eminently to man, whom, under himself, he had invested 
with the universal dominion. 

With these divine advantages; — with the face of the 
whole creation open to his view, and the account of God 
himself in confirmation of it, as it appears to the eye; — 
how astonishing it is, that man should be so entirely 
regardless of the inestimable talents of reason and sense, 
as to allow both to be completely duped by the idle 
and impious arts of vain and interested sophists, and to 
believe, that the frame and operations of nature are 
diametrically the reverse of what he sees,* and, likewise, 
of the information the Maker himself has given in his 
own book, to which the powers of the mind, when not 
confused by philosophical figments, have in all ages borne 
an uniform and full testimony. 

The object and intent of this essay is, therefore, to ex- 
pose the false grounds of human opposition to the sacred 
books, and to vindicate their divine authority, so far as 
they are illustrative of the subject in hand; — to show 
that they do not contradict, but are strictly consonant 
to the internal powers of reason as well as to the external 
observation and evidence of the senses; that they are not 
intended, as vain philosophers daringly insinuate, to 
conform to the false prejudices of those whom they 

* These philosophers ought to have taken a hint from their ancient 
master Epicurus, " The senses," said he, " are the criterions of 
truth, and it is not possible to confute them." — Cicero also enquired, 
" What can possibly be conceived, if the senses do not report 
faithfully?" 



11 



term the Vulgar; or, in other words, to deceive; but 
the direct reverse : and I hope that an imputation so 
scandalous will speedily receive, from those in all nations 
who are friendly to the cause of truth, the reprobation it 
so justly merits. 

But why, said a Newtonian to me some years ago, do 
you wish to deprive God of the honor due to him for 
having made so many worlds, why limit his creation to 
this world which we inhabit? The exclamation of Pliny 
the naturalist on the same subject might have been a 
sufficient reply. " A ridiculous folly it is," said he, " of 
all other follies, to go forth of it (the earth), and so to 
keep a seeking without as if all things within were well 
and clearly understood and known already/' But a very 
obvious question presents itself. Are we professors of 
Paganism or of Christianity? — do we found our^rules of 
faith on Greek fable or revealed truth? If on the latter, 
then I answer, that in God's own account of the creation 
of the heaven and the earth, he only mentions or acknow- 
ledges the creation of one world, nor does he in any part 
of his own book require us to praise him for more; but 
he certainly does require us to praise him for all the 
wonderful works which he has described in that book. 
Therefore my reasoning can only have a tendency to 
deprive visionary philosophers of the presumptuous 
glory of their own imaginary creations, which, in order 
to give them currency, they condescendingly father 
upon Him, after taking to themselves the credit of 
finding them out. For truly the new discovery of an 
old star, by a modern optician, is considered a most 
interesting and highly important event, though the 
world we live in they term an u insignificant point!" 

One of these speculators, while dilating upon this 
subject, gravely felicitates himself in these words; 



12 



" The discovery of the Georgium Sidus may be looked 
upon as the happy presage to future success!" The 
presage was accordingly realized in the discovery of 
others some years afterwards; and if astronomers will 
continue closely to examine the ample field, I believe 
many more may be detected; but 1 suppose that, in 
future, such discoveries will not be permitted to rank 
with the one above mentioned; they must not be 
allowed to tarnish the glory of that ; the rank that such 
are to hold, in the scale of celestial discoveries, appears 
to have been fixed by the discoverer of the first. They 
are not it seems to be considered as noble worlds, but to 
have a petty distinction— an inferior title; — namely, 
Asteroids. " Asteroids," says he, " are celestial bodies 
which move in orbits either of little or considerable 
eccentricity, round the sun; the plane of which may be 
inclined to the ecliptic in any angle whatsoever. Their 
motion may be direct or retrograde; and they may, or 
may not have considerable atmospheres, very small comas, 
disks, or nuclei." Such is the remarkable definition of a 
great astronomer ! and therefore few will venture to call 
it in question. The ^ happy presage" has however been 
realized; and as these learned calculators seem to be far 
more gratified with multiplicity than utility, they go on 
to assert, that " it is from modern astronomy we learn 
that the stars are innumerable,* and that the constella- 
tions in which the ancients reckoned but few are now 
known to contain thousands. The heavens of Thales 
and Hipparchus were very poor when compared with 
Tycho Brahe, Herschell, &c." Very poor, truly ! Proba- 
bly in ancient times the heavens did not produce so many 
professorships; nor the riches of so many manufactories 

* The moderns only confirm what the ancients asserted. The Host of 
Heaven cannot be numbered. Jer. xxxiii. 22. Democritus taught, that 
tbe milky way contained an innumerable multitude of Stars. Pitjt. 



13 



of telescopes :f they did not produce so much employ- 
ment for a multitude of writers, teachers and lecturers on 
imaginary things, nor did booksellers then, as now, enrich 
themselves by the sale of thousands of volumes treating 
expressly upon the exact degrees of ponderosity, attrac- 
tion, gravitation, and repulsion of bodies said to be 
situated at the distances of hundreds and thousands of 
millions of miles! Alas, alas, how barren were the 
heavens in those days! The poverty of the ancient 
system was I suppose its greatest disadvantage: had it 
not been for that, I imagine its credit never would have 
been so vigorously assailed. It has been supplanted by 
a profitable system, which will remain as firmly estab- 
lished as was the credit of Diana at Ephesus, until the 
Revelation of Truth unmasks the imposture. The 
preaching of St. Paul produced a terrible commotion 
amongst the promoters of delusion in that city. Deme- 
trius, therefore, who was largely engaged in the com- 
merce of deception, became alarmed and exceedingly 
enraged. He cried out, (C Not only this our craft is in 
danger, but also that the temple of the great goddess 
Diana should be despised, and her magnificence destroyed, 
whom all Asia and the world worshippeth." The praise 
of Diana, and her magnificence, no doubt greatly pro- 
moted trade in that city, and the spring of Demetrius's 
zeal, as well as of those workmen who sided with him 
and raised the uproar against the ambassadors of truth, 
evidently centred in the large profits produced by the 
manufacture and sale, to different nations, of the silver 
shrines and images: therefore as the history informs us, 
they were full of wrath; and in order to drown the voice 
of truth, they, for about two hours vociferated, Great 
is Diana of the Ephesians ! 

f Which this writer largely dealt in. 



14 



There is something like the same spirit in these days; 
and experience proves that where feelings of interest, or 
an ardent desire of pre-eminent distinction, are the 
ruling motives of action, neither the sacred obligations 
of the pulpit, nor the dignity of the professor's chair, are 
effectual preservatives against the perversion and prosti- 
tution of reason for the promotion and establishment of 
lucrative, though false, systems. And when such have 
been long established, though encreasing in deformity 
as they encrease in age, they are sure to find numerous 
defenders, not only among those who find them to be 
gainful concerns, but likewise among such as are the 
dupes of the imposition; nor is it an unusual artifice to 
class all such as testify against the fraud, of whatever 
nature it may be, with the opposers and blasphemers of 
religion. 

But I leave this digression and proceed with my 
comments upon the old fable of a plurality of Worlds, 
which the Newtonians have so elaborately vamped up 
anew. It is a doctrine, when attentively considered, that 
seems to be the necessary consequence of the peculiar 
structure of the Solar System ; being in a manner 
expedient to support the agreement of its parts. Be- 
cause having once imagined a diurnal and an annual 
revolution of the earth instead of the sun; analogy in 
reasoning requires, that several little stars, called planets, 
be raised to the same rank, and also that, in imagination, 
they be swelled to enormously large sizes to corres- 
pond with that rank ; and then after having supposed 
them to be several thousands of miles in diameter, rules 
of optics require their distances to be estimated pro- 
portionally great, so as to agree with appearances. 
Thus, for the sake of forming an imaginary system, all 
things are to be deemed the very reverse of what they 



15 



appear to the eye; and volumes must be written in 
attempts to render the fabrication palatable. The 
inspired writers must be declared ignorant of the very 
subjects they wrote upon ! A celebrated speculator on 
this philosophy, in the course of one of his rhapsodies, 
has the following extraordinary passage, which is praised 
and copied by another. 

" The sparkling points with which it (the firmament) 
is sown, are so many suns suspended by the Almighty in 
the immensity of space; to give light and heat to the 
worlds which roll around them. The heavens declare the 
glory of God, and the firmament his handywork. The 
royal poet who expresses himself with such loftiness of 
sentiment was ignorant that the stars he contemplated 
were in reality suns. He anticipated the times and first 
sung that majestic hymn which future, and more 
enlightened ages, should chaunt forth in praise to the 
Founder of Worlds. The assemblage of these vast 
bodies is divided into different systems; the number of 
which probably surpasses the grains of sand which the sea 
casts upon its shores. " 

If this comparative estimate do not satisfy the most 
ardent cosmogonist of the Solar System, I cannot 
imagine what will. It certainly is quite consistent in 
those who receive such a creed to assert, that it 
" scatters the Christian system like feathers in the air." 
Truly, a well grounded belief of both systems cannot be 
held in the same mind; — the truth of the one most 
clearly demonstrates the falsehood of the other. 

I have no conception of any solid satisfaction that can 
be derived from thoughts so confounding to the mental 
powers ; to me it seems they can only have a tendency 
to fill the mind with the perplexities of doubt, or the 
most melancholy reflections; such as it may be con- 



16 



ceived a man ignorant of providence must experience, 
if turned adrift in a small boat, without compass or 
guide in the midst of the trackless ocean — without 
information of his situation, or knowledge to direct him 
to a haven of rest, his soul would sicken and his hope 
founder in despair. 

What, in idea, becomes of the revealed system of the 
world? — where can the reflecting powers of the mind 
find an object to rest upon, if it is to be believed that 
systems of worlds surpass in number all the grains of 
sand upon the sea shore? Or if, according to the enor- 
mous computation of another astronomical optician, we 
are to believe, that if a single grain of mustard seed were 
placed several feet from the eye, it would occupy a visual 
angle equal to a nebula consisting of millions of systems 
of worlds, condensed by gravity into what he estimates 
the comparatively small space of five hundred times 
thirty-eight millions of millions of miles!! They first 
imagine that the little crystalline glittering points which 
adorn the heavens, called fixed stars, are suns; and having 
imagined it, the next step is positively to teach it as sound 
doctrine; with the further assurance, that those little 
points have worlds whirling round them, though neither 
analogy in sound reasoning, nor the evidence of the 
senses, can in any way support the assertion; for they 
never yet saw any thing moving round them. If however 
we hesitate to take their word for it, they insult us in 
the following terms. <tf Proud and ignorant mortal ! lift 
up now thine eyes to heaven and answer me, if one of 
those luminaries were taken away which adorn the starry 
heavens, would thy nights become darker? say not then 
that the stars were made for thee; that it was for thee 
that the firmament glitters with effulgent brightness. " 



17 



No doubt the night would become darker if even one 
were to be taken away, comparatively as would a large 
room lighted up by a thousand lamps if -one -were to be 
taken away. It is by the combined light of those stars 
which are above the horizon, that we are enabled to 
travel about in the night when the moon is absent; for, 
were it not for the stars, the firmament would appear 
quite black and of course the darkness on the earth 
would be intolerable. So that if the matter be duly 
considered it will be found quite reasonable to receive 
God's account of it in preference to that of the enthu- 
siast whom I have quoted. Undoubtedly the stars were 
made exclusively for the inhabitants of this earth : — 
" For signs and for seasons and to give light upon the 
earth." These are the important benefits derived from 
them. They serve as signs or marks for geographers 
and travellers by land and sea, to lay down and discover 
the situations of places upon the surface of the globe, 
which could not otherwise be done. And by the 
uniform and perpetual revolution of the constellations, 
all nations are apprised of the regular succession of the 
seasons, comparatively as a clock shews the hours of 
the day and night. Therefore the Creator distributed 
them in all parts of the heaven in order that all nations 
might participate of the important services which they 
render to man. As Moses says to the Israelites when 
prohibiting the worship of them; (Deut. iv. 19.)" Which 
the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under 
the whole heaven," — alluding to the account stated in 
the first chapter of Genesis, referred to above. 

The idea of a multiplicity of stationary suns and 
worlds whirling about them; or of contemplating the 
Creator as a " founder of worlds;" — as a manufacturer 
of innumerable " balls" — sending them with incon- 

D 



18 



eeivable velocity by the Newtonian projection into 
illimitable space, appears to me, so far from exalting his 
divine Majesty, that a notion so absurd and puerile 
could only have originated in a vain and imbecile 
imagination: and therefore must have a tendency to 
detract from that honor which we ascribe to him for the 
greatness, excellence and beauty of his works, and for 
the incomparable harmony every where manifest in the 
motions of the divine system. 

Even when we examine the works of human art, it is 
not the multitude of them that excites our admiration, 
so much as the genius and wisdom displayed in the 
execution. Had every city and town in the world 
possessed structures equal to the magnificent temple of 
Solomon at Jerusalem; to that of Diana at Ephesus; to 
the pyramids of Egypt; or to the colossus at Rhodes; sen- 
timents of admiration of them w r ould scarcely have been 
excited, because such wonderful works would have been 
common. That small but supposed unequalled piece 
of sculpture lately at Florence, but now at Paris,* when 
examined by judges of refined taste and extensive observa- 
tion; they are constrained to acknowledge and extol the 
transcendent powers of the artist who formed it; but if 
that exquisite specimen, which has held up the name 
and talents of Cleomenes the son of Apollodorusf to 
perpetual praise, had been multiplied into millions, 
admiration of it would long since have ceased; and 
instead of contemplating the abilities of the artist with 
applause and astonishment, his fame would, in the esti- 
mation of the world have sunk to a level with that of 
manufacturers of common forms, and his productions 
would in consequence have been neglected as unin- 
teresting lumber. 

* When this was written: f Or whoever was the artist. 



19 



The immortal part of man, whatever he may vainly 
profess upon the subject, can neither be truly delighted 
nor really satisfied in brooding over an universe com- 
posed of countless ideal systems of matter, separated 
by imaginary void spaces of inconceivable extent. Man 
possesses an ever active and ever living principle which 
looks beyond perishable matter, of which he cannot 
comprehend the formation of the least particle; nor 
would the possession of the whole globe make him 
happy; having nothing in it that can fully satisfy, or be 
compared with, the desires, expectations or attributes of 
his imperishable part. Why then vainly busy himself 
in falsely imagining, and then presumptuously writing 
down upon paper to deceive others, his fantastical crea- 
tion of innumerable globes of matter? This employ- 
ment is however what we are to understand and to re- 
ceive, according to the sceptics, as u rational religion !" 

The mind of man is, I believe, when unsophisticated, 
a faithful mirror to reflect true ideas of the word and 
works of God; and that it is owing to the misuse or 
neglect of the faculties which he has given to us, that 
all dangerous errors in philosophy as well as in religion 
have originated and spread : to illustrate which, numer- 
ous examples might be produced. But perhaps there is 
none more strikingly remarkable than the substitution 
of the Pythagorean fable, by the Christians, for the true 
account of the universe so plainly described in the 
sacred books from which they profess to extract the 
elements of their religious faith. Such indeed is the 
implicit belief of learned men in the perfection of the 
Pythagorean dogmas, that it seems to be believed 
amongst them, that the elements of several of the most 
important branches of science originated in that school. 



20 



A learned minister of the Christian faith, recently 
published, in a note accompanying his translation of 
Herodotus, that " it is to the disciples of Pythagoras 
that the world is doubtless indebted for the discovery of 
numbers; of the principles of music; of physics and of 
morals." This, as coming from, or sanctioned by, a 
clergyman, is certainly a most extraordinary passage. 
If the world owes those precious acquisitions to Pytha- 
goras, how shall we account for the production of all 
the great works of antiquity anterior to the aera of that 
philosopher? By what means did the Egyptians and 
Babylonians become famous in a knowledge of astro- 
nomy and the calculation of eclipses, if ignorant of 
numbers? Do not even the scripture notations refute 
the assertion? Can it rationally be supposed that the 
ancient cities of Babylon, Nineveh, Jerusalem, Mem- 
phis and Thebes; — the unequalled palaces of Balbec and 
Palmyra;* the temples and pyramids of Egypt; — that 
such stupendous works of art were constructed without 
the knowledge and aid of numbers and geometry? To 
entertain an opinion so strange is tantamount to an 
admission, that, in works of art, symmetry and 
beauty of execution, can be produced without the 
pre-existence of elementary principles, or knowledge 
to form and direct. Such an idea may be classed with 
the Epicurean notion, of mundane order and beauty 
arising out of a fortuitous concourse of atoms ! 

The same writer must surely also have forgotten, that 
several hundred years anterior to the days of Pythagoras, 
there was a musical order instituted by King Solomon for 
the service of the temple: that establishment was com- 

* The construction of Balbec and Palmyra hag^, I am aware, 
been ascribed to the Romans, but without even a shadow of reason 
or proof. 



21 



posed of two hundred and eighty-eight persons skilled in 
vocal and instrumental performance, which they constantly 
taught, and in which, as the service required them to be, 
they were regularly and perpetually exercised. Now this 
could not have been Carried on without the knowledge of 
principles, which combined with practice, and animated 
besides with a sense of the divine presence, must have 
given that choir a perfection in the art, 1 believe, far 
transcending any thing that Pythagoras, or his super- 
stitious followers could have formed any conception of. 
Even the poems of Homer sufficiently refute the said 
assertion: the astonishing effects there mentioned, as 
having been produced by the power of music, could not 
have been independent of principles existing in a know- 
ledge of the art. Mr. Bruce, when in Egypt, copied 
from a painting in a subterraneous room the figure of 
an elegantly formed harp, which, was supposed to have 
been depicted there long anterior to the age of Pytha- 
goras. Now it is affirmed in scripture, that the wisdom 
of Solomon not only excelled that of the Egyptians, but 
also of all the people of the East, But we may go back 
to a period of two thousand years before his time; and 
find that a knowledge of the arts existed amongst the first 
fathers of mankind. In the fourth chapter of Genesis, 
amongst other things, it appears, that they then under- 
stood the construction of organs and harps. And so far 
from the world being indebted to the idolatrous Greeks* 
for the principles of morals or of physics, the very reverse 
is the fact : what is there in the writings of any moralist 

* Josephus, in his answer to Apion, uses a very short but con- 
clusive argument: " As to the point in competition between the two 
nations (Jews and Greeks) respecting which of them should have the 
preference for men of arts and learning; the reader," says he, " has 
no more to do but to consult our antiquities for bis satisfaction." 



22 



amongst that people that is not to be found in the laws 
delivered by Moses, and in the Proverbs and maxims of 
the Hebrews who wrote subsequently to him ? Those 
laws, in fact, constitute the solid basis upon which all 
other wise codes are founded. Solomon it is recorded 
wrote, or delivered, three thousand proverbs; nor was 
he less skilled in poetry, physics, or a knowledge of 
nature; having treated of trees and herbs; of beasts, 
fowls, reptiles and fishes; and he expressly declares, 
in his book of wisdom, that in astronomy, as well as in 
other sciences, God himself was his instructor. 

Most of the modern Europeans, notwithstanding 
these testimonials, seem greatly disposed to undervalue 
the accomplishments of the ancient Palestinians in the 
useful and elegant arts of civilization: but let us hear 
the opinion of the great Aristotle, or, at least, that 
w T hich his disciple Clearchus puts into his mouth, 
concerning a Jew of a certain class of philosophers. 
" It would be tedious/' says he, " to run through 
the whole history of the people the Jews, and there- 
fore I shall only give you a taste of this particular 
person's admirable wisdom; he was a Jew of the 
lower Syria, of the race of a sort of philosophers that the 
Indians call Calani ; and the Syrians call them Jews 
from the country where they live. Their capital city 
has a hard name and they call it Jerusalem. He 
was a person of great hospitality to travellers and 
strangers; and no less considerable for his discourses 
and good manners. It was my fortune to be in Asia, 
with some disciples of mine; and this heavenly man 
gave us several visits there; to the high satisfaction 
and improvement of those that understood the blessings 
of such a conversation." A nation possessing such 
characters as this certainly could not rank very low in 



23 



the scale of civilization. Hecataeus, another Greek 
writer, also mentions, that amongst a number of per- 
sons who followed Ptolemy the son of Lagus, after his 
reduction of Syria, into Egypt, was " one Hezekiah, a 
high priest of the Jews and a person of the first quality 
amongst his countrymen, sixty-six years of age, a wise 
man and a powerful speaker, and one that understood the 
world, no man better. We had several meetings and 
conferences," says he, ec with this great man, and others 
about him, concerning our different customs, practices 
and opinions, insomuch that he carried us to his habi- 
tation and instructed us in the manner of his people's 
government and discipline, which he shewed us in 
writing." Under chiefs such as this; — wise, communi- 
cative and hospitable; the people of Syria and Phoenicia 
maintained the elevated rank described by Pliny the 
Roman naturalist. " A region in times past," says he, 
" the chief and most renowned upon earth. Jerusalem 
was not only the most magnificent city of Jewry but 
also of all the East; and that the nation of the Phoeni- 
cians had been highly respected for their knowledge and 
learning; and in particular for the invention of letters, 
their knowledge of astronomy, navigation, and martial 
skill." Here then we have the testimony of accom- 
plished Greek and Roman writers in confirmation of the 
scripture, — that the Jews were a wise and learned 
nation. The writings of Joseph us confirm all this and 
much more; but as what he relates of the Hebrew 
antiquities are for the most part amplifications of facts 
recorded in the sacred books, I pass them by; though 
I cannot help expressing, by the way, my surprise, 
that the world, with evidence before it so complete, 
should be so extremely reluctant to acknowledge the 
genuine source whence true philosophy and a know- 



24 



ledge of the useful and ornamental arts have flowed; 
and gratuitously, without the sanction of proof, express 
their obligations for knowledge to a pagan fabulist, in 
place of the ever-shining fountain of light; from 
which through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, 
and Solomon, appears to have been derived a knowledge 
of letters, husbandry, shipbuilding, astronomy, laws, 
morals, architecture, &c. History informs us, that the 
Hebrews, Phoenicians, Tyrians, and Sidonians, colonized 
different parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa; founded 
Thebes in Bceotia, Carthage in Mauritania, and Cadiz in 
Spain. Thus knowledge was planted with their colo- 
nies, and every where the arts of polished society were 
promoted. 

The same learned divine, to whom I recently alluded, 
as if determined to depreciate Jewish acquirement, has 
in another place this astonishing assertion. " It is 
indeed known that the immortality of the soul, was not 
Mown to the Jews, but by the commerce which they had 
with the Assyrians." I should be glad to have informa- 
tion of the kind of authority upon which that is known. 
Supposing the Jews, who worshipped the true God, to 
be ignorant of that doctrine, how, or by what means, 
came the Assyrian idolaters to the knowledge of it? The 
Jews were taught from the beginning, that God gave to 
man a " living soul." He who accompanied them in a 
pillar of fire out of Egypt ; articulated in thunder from 
Mount Sinai his divine laws; and who favoured them 
with the occasional ministration of angels and prophets, 
— gave them ample proofs that the soul of man was 
immortal ! They had, besides these, other facts in 
confirmation of it : such as the translation of Enoch, the 
appearance of Samuel to King Saul, after death ; and 
the glorious ascent of the prophet Elijah. These things 



25 



were known and credited by the whole nation^ as may 
be inferred by the manner in which they are noticed 
many ages afterwards by the son of Sirach. And it was 
no doubt in the firm belief of a future life, that their 
wise men and prophets were induced to risk their lives 
by the publick declaration of unwelcome truths. ee Jn 
the sight of the unwise, (says Solomon,) they seemed to 
die; their departure was taken for misery, and their 
going from us utter destruction ; but they are in peace, 
for though they were punished in the sight of men, yet 
was their hope full of immortality; and having been a 
little chastised they shall be greatly rewarded." 

Here then are sufficient proofs to show, that the Jews 
were not ignorant of the immortality of the soul : their 
knowledge of that important doctrine was founded upon 
both precept and visible demonstration. The Bible 
must however, it seems, be attacked on all points by the 
efforts of different speculators, and its authority called 
in question whenever it opposes their vain and interested 
dogmas. a The word of God," say they, " suits itself 
to the prejudices of weak mortals." Not I believe to 
confirm them either in their sins or in ignorance. The 
v< prejudices of weak mortals" led our forefathers as 
enthusiastically to believe in a plurality of gods, as the 
credulity and prejudices of modern Europeans have 
snared them into a firm belief in a plurality of worlds. 
But the word of God opposes both errors, and, by its 
transcendant light, both are exposed to condemnation; 
it is directly contrary to every thing that is false or 
destructive, whether the subject concerns morals, divine 
worship, or the creation of the universe. 

The Creator formed man with capabilities of receiving 
a true knowledge of himself and of his works: and 
accordingly imparted to him, as occasions required, the 

E 



26 



pure unadulterated elements of useful and ornamental 
science. If the Hebrew people were appointed by him 
to receive, and by their writings, travels, colonizations 
and captivities, to spread a knowledge of his revelations 
over the face of the globe; acknowledgments of obliga- 
tion from the rest of mankind are due to them, so far as 
they have encountered dangers and been diligent and 
faithful in the discharge of that benevolent duty. To 
stem the tide of error has ever been an arduous and 
perilous, though necessary work; otherwise the corrup- 
tions of doctrine and the insidious operations of those 
who are falsely termed philosophers, would completely 
bewilder the world; fill it with destructive bigotry; or 
reduce it to a state of the most dark and savage igno- 
rance. In the ample field of useful knowledge, it is the 
duty of man, as far as circumstances will permit, dili- 
gently to cultivate and freely to impart, without respect 
of persons, anxiety for public applause, or a sordid 
propensity for the acquirement of lucre; for, such, if 
ruling motives, are unworthy of genuine science; and 
from the minds in which they predominate, but little 
knowledge that is really useful, or beneficially durable, 
can proceed. Such were not the springs which, in 
times past, impelled to action those illustrious cha- 
racters whom providence sent forth to enlighten the 
world. 

I do not however mean to insinuate, that any man 
ought to labour without having a reward in view, no 
such thing; on that point I will not subscribe to the 
reveries which certain modern philosophers have spun 
out of their own imaginations concerning disinterest- 
edness. But I consider it discreditable to any one, in 
the free exercise of his intellectual powers, to confine 
his views to his own immediate advancement; or to 



27 



prostitute the talents, which God has given him, to the 
ever varying fashions and tastes of the fickle multitude. 
We labour in the sight of a liberal master, who will in 
due season award us a proper recompence : but the prize 
is not for the illiberal and mercenary. If like Atalanta, 
in the fable, we stop to take up the golden apple, we 
shall certainly fail in the race: but the most feeble 
labourer in the field, with generous intentions, may cast 
in some seeds which, under the fostering care of provi- 
dence, may grow, flourish and, in time, produce fruits 
useful to posterity. 

It has by some been enquired, with apparent surprise ; 
if the subjects I have occasionally attempted to de- 
fend were true, and of considerable moment, why they 
were generally rejected by the learned philosophers 
and religionists. I answer; that, essential truth is of 
no party: its form and its attire have hitherto been 
deemed too simple and too plain: it will as little 
minister to the sordid pursuits of the mercenary, as 
it will flatter the vain, or promote the views of the 
proud and ambitious. Its presence amongst the great 
multitude of these, has not generally been considered as 
very captivating; — and therefore few comparatively have 
entertained the heavenly guest. The learned and 
religious are divided into numerous sects and parties, 
and he who does not trim his conduct and principles 
according to the tenets of some one of them, stands but 
little chance of being attended to by any. 

It was at a period when learning flourished in Greece, 
that Socrates arose and exerted himself to recal his 
fellow citizens to habits of primitive simplicity, and to a 
just estimate of things. It was in the presence of an 
assembly of accomplished Athenians, before whom he 
had not only proved his innocence, but also that he was 



28 



a benefactor to the human race, that,' to the eternal 
reproach of Greece, the sage, in all the majesty of 
conscious integrity, thus addressed his accusers and 
those judges who condemned him; " I am now going 
to suffer death by your condemnation, and they to 
undergo disgrace and infamy by the condemnation and 
judgment of truth!" 

When Truth and divine Wisdom were manifested 
in a human form; — -when He and his followers appeared 
in various parts of the Roman empire, it was at a time 
when the learning of the Augustan age was spread over 
the wide extent of that dominion. To describe the 
reception they every where experienced is here unneces- 
sary, because faithfully recorded in the page of history. 
Sufficient it is to observe, that they were judged and 
punished as the vilest offenders. Succeeding genera- 
tions have however dedicated churches to their memo- 
ries; as the Jews built the tombs of prophets whom 
their ancestors had murdered! 

When I thus take a review of the memorable in- 
stances of the persecution of truth in former ages, — in 
periods the most enlightened by the sciences, and the 
most polished by the arts; I think I may justly infer, 
without adverting to the temper and conduct of our 
own times, that the learned and religious, so called, are 
not in general the most friendly to the reception of 
science that is founded upon firm and incorruptible 
truth; and that public report and public opinion are 
not always just criterions to form a fair estimate of those 
characters who are occasionally raised up by Providence 
for the beneficial purposes of pointing out dangerous 
errors in order that they may be corrected; and that by 
so doing the institutions for useful learning may main- 
tain their wholesome influence, and that all the bonds 



29 



which hold society together may be strengthened and 
perpetuated. I cannot therefore be deterred from the 
performance of an obvious duty by the mistaken con- 
structions of narrow-minded prejudice; nor by the 
ungenerous imputations of those who are impelled by 
motives of self interest to support and defend the 
fashionable though erroneous doctrines which have been 
promulgated by certain great names, and adopted by 
their learned followers. 

The fatal consequences that have on various memor- 
able occasions been effected by the poisonous breath of 
calumny, furnish subjects for melancholy reflection to 
every sensible and honorable mind. Men who are sold 
to interest, who aspire after temporary fame, or who 
are fascinated with the idols of modern contrivance, 
rendered sacred by imposing names, are, probably for 
wise purposes, permitted, by their false colourings, to 
disfigure the beautiful form of truth; — perhaps, indeed, 
that it may afterwards, in the fulness of time, shine 
forth with a more resplendent lustre, which shall 
demonstrate to all the glorious majesty of its im- 
mortal origin. 



30 



CHAPTER II. 

ADOPTION OF THE NEWTONIAN HYPOTHESIS BY 
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON AND THE HONOR 
OF THE NATION IDENTIFIED WITH IT ; — THOSE WHO 
REJECT THAT SYSTEM PRONOUNCED, BY ONE OF ITS 
SUPPORTERS, TO BE THE WORST OF HERETICS;— 
EXTRAVAGANT PRAISES OF NEWTON BY HIS FOL- 
LOWERS ;— THEIR POETICAL EULOGIUM AND CREED 
COMMENTED ON;— THE COPERNICAN SCHEME NOT 
ADOPTED BY THE MOST EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS 
WHO FLOURISHED IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



Leaving the preceding introductory observations, I 
now proceed to notice more particularly the matters 
already premised; — to offer some comments on the 
theories of the Newtonian Creation, and to enquire 
into the facts upon which the moderns pretend to have 
grounded unanswerable arguments in support of the 
gentile belief of a plurality of worlds. 

A few persons, to whom I formerly expressed my 
conviction of the fallacy of the Solar System, though in 
other respects possessing a tolerable portion of candour, 
would not tolerate my opposition to that: when, how- 
ever, I came to speak upon the hypotheses upon 
which it is founded, I generally discovered that they 
believed by faith in the credit of its fabricators, and not 
by a conviction which was the effect of an attentive 
examination of the subject. A diligent enquirer, in 



31 



possession of an ingenuous mind, must, I believe, be 
soon convinced, that instead of known truth, mere 
hypotheses alone are the bases upon which it rests; and 
that therefore, no mathematical calculations, however 
elegant and plausible, can establish the superstructure as 
positively true. 

But, as things are, very few seem disposed to listen 
to any objections raised against a system in the estab- 
lishment of which Sir Isaac Newton acted so conspi- 
cuous a part; and more particularly as a few eminent 
mathematical calculators, joining with him, had induced 
the Royal Society to receive it as their Creed. The 
author of a recent " Historical Sketch of the Institution 
and Progress of the Royal Society," observes that it 
adopted Newton's " System of the Universe as one 
which was infallibly true, and which it was for the 
honor of the nation by all possible means to illustrate and 
maintain." Accordingly that subject, he adds, princi- 
pally employed the society for nearly fifty years! Most 
certainly they laboured long and hard to entrench and 
fortify it; and I believe it remains to this day impreg- 
nable against all the assaults of the most formidable 
theorists. These things considered, the observation of 
an eminent literary character, a few years ago, to an 
acquaintance of mine, did not much surprise me; more 
especially as he was of a sceptical turn. " It would," 
said he, " be far easier to prove the Bible wrong than 
to disprove the Newtonian system!" What I have 
heard others of inferior accomplishments advance to the 
same effect, or to manifest their zeal in support of that 
system, it would be superfluous here to repeat. I have 
however had sufficient opportunity of observing, how 
easily the few, who acquire the reputation of being 
learned, can work upon the credulity of the multitude, 



32 



even to deluding their senses, provided the thing does 
not immediately appear to affect their property. That 
so great a nation as the English should, as the said 
author asserts, identify its honor with the establish- 
ment of a barren mathematical theory, is certainly 
an extraordinary fact: a theory which, in its leading 
principles, tends to the disparagement and subversion 
of the fundamental authorities upon which repose the 
established religion and laws of the land! I am far 
from supposing that this entered into the views of its 
Royal and noble patrons: even the sceptics who labour- 
ed in the work, such as Dr. Halley, were far more 
influenced and occupied with an ardent desire of crying 
down the vortical system of Descartes than any deep- 
laid design they had then formed against the authority 
of the first chapter of Genesis. To explode the French 
system, was considered an achievement greatly to be 
desired; and, so far as the national honor was concerned 
in that affair, the triumph was sufficiently complete. 
The Cartesian doctrine of planetary motion was, notwith- 
standing, better grounded than that of gravitation, 
because it admitted, that motion must be continued in 
a sensible medium. However, in time to come, I hope, 
that kings and governments will not find their honor 
and dignity materially identified with the success or 
credit of any idle mathematical conceits whatsoever; but 
that they will rather employ their influence and autho- 
rity to repress and discourage public controversy upon 
subjects of barren hypotheses; and to recommend the 
employment of figures for what they seem to have been 
originally designed, — the business of life; — such as the 
calculations of merchants; builders; surveyors; prac- 
tical astronomers and navigators; or any other tangible 
objects of undoubted utility. 



33 



Although some who have written in support of this 
system have evidently been sensible that it is erroneous; 
yet, having adopted it, they have felt so tenacious of its 
credit, that they have wilfully forborne to exhibit its 
faults to public view; fearing no doubt, that if in case 
they were to do so, the infallibility of its founders would 
be called in question and that the whole fabrick would 
thereby be endangered. An elegantly written book, now 
before me, has this passage. " The attentive examina- 
tion of other books, to which the writer of this perform- 
ance has had recourse, has shown him, that even the 
works of those great men who deserve and possess the 
highest reputation are not free from errors of Import- 
ance; the present occasion does not require the 
disagreeable task of pointing them out." It is partly 
owing to this kind of literary delicacy, that the empire 
of ignorance expands its dominion and perpetuates its 
reign; that the roots of the tree of error are deepened; 
that its baleful branches flourish and overshadow the 
whole of what is termed civilized society, and that 
mankind become more and more confirmed in error. 
It was the manifest duty of the writer of an introduction 
to natural philosophy to point out the important errors 
of his predecessors; — and thereby to have enabled his 
inexperienced readers to judge between truth and false- 
hood. 

When indeed it is considered what an immense mass 
of learned works are supported upon the body, or hang 
upon the branches of the Newtonian philosophy, it is by 
no means surprising that bookmakers, booksellers and 
reviewers, so tenaciously defend its character of infalli- 
bility: but, independently of interested motives, implicit 
faith in the dogmas of their master appears to have been 
characteristic of both the ancient and modern Pythago- 

F 



34 



reans. Amongst the former it was accounted unlawful 
to express a doubt on any thing which their master 
said, or even to question him concerning it; hence, 
whenever his disciples, in disputation, asserted a thing 
and were questioned, why it was so? they would answer, 
He said it. In like manner we occasionally find the 
disciples of Newton using such assertions as the follow- 
ing, and others equally extravagant ; " Newton has 
dissolved the chaos and separated the light from the 
darkness ; his inimitable work, The Mathematical Prin- 
ciples of Natural Philosophy, contains the True Astro- 
nomical Faith, and those who reject its doctrines, are 
the worst of heretics." Thus they condemn; and thus 
the empire of their tenets has become as absolute as 
popery was in the zenith of its power. If any one risk 
his reputation in an attempt to expose the artifices 
employed in the delusive contrivance, he evinces, in the 
judgment of the learned, a temerity equal to that of 
any man who, a few centuries back, would have dared, 
openly, to attack opinions touching the pope's infalli- 
bility: for, if such an one escapes without more severe 
imputations, that of insanity is sure to be attached to 
him. Such was the insinuation of the reviewers in the 
year 1804, when noticing Mr. Parkes's pamphlet of 
" Newton refuted." The influence which these lite- 
rary guides have over the minds of multitudes of even 
such as from education possess considerable infor- 
mation is really surprising. Soon after I had published 
some thoughts on this subject in the year 1803, a 
neighbour of mine in Staffordshire informed me, that he 
had recommended what I had written to the perusal of 
the minister of the parish, who observed, that he would 
first see what judgment the reviewers would pass upon 



35 



it! As however those censors never noticed it, so 
neither, I suppose, would the reverend gentleman. 

If, unshackled by the mercenary views of some of their 
employers, and unbiased by an undue attachment to 
fashionable theories and the placits of the schoolmen, 
reviewers were to stand up the honest and courageous 
advocates of Truth, they would then powerfully co- 
operate in setting genius free from its fetters and also 
promote its advance to the glow of beauty and to the 
maturity of strength.* But as things seem now to be 
otherwise, and the multitude are content to be guided 
by those who 66 darken counsel by words without know- 
ledge," this tree, so fruitful in pagan error, will, I 
suppose, for a time continue to grow and flourish. 
Having been transplanted to the Royal Society; there 
dressed and pruned; watered by the other learned 
societies all over Christendom, and defended by a host 
of admirers, from the great professors in colleges down 
to the itinerant lecturer and the village schoolmaster; it 
will continue to expand its poisonous branches until 
they are completely discovered, exposed to the world, 
and effectually blasted by the lightning of truth, 

Of real practical utility this famous hypothesis, like 
most other hypotheses, is completely barren. Even 
Pemberton, the friend of Newton acknowledges, that 
" if the astronomer should suppose the earth to stand 
still, he could ascribe such motions to the celestial 
bod ies as should answer all the appearances. " Most 
certainly he could; that is undeniable; and nothing 
more is necessary. By so considering the earth, every 
useful purpose was answered during thousands of years 

* The public ought, I think, to feel obliged to Sir Richard Phillips 
for the peep he gave them into the secret closets of these gentlemen, 
when giving his evidence before a jury in the year 1808. 



36 



before any practical scheme of a Solar System was ever 
thought of. But then the old system afforded no field 
sufficiently wide for the exercise of vain mathematical 
dexterities; no room for the exhibition of learned 
fluxional calculations on inconceivable velocities of 
bodies in imaginary curves; nor a sufficient scope for 
the fabrication of innumerable worlds. A new system 
was therefore invented, and for the support of it, new 
laws of motion and a spurious method of mathematical 
calculation were invented to puzzle and confound, to 
fortify and defend the imposition, and give it an appear- 
ance of profound and awful importance. The means 
accordingly answered the end in view, and besides, 
surrounded the baseless fabrick with a labyrinth of such 
a perplexing construction, that perhaps not one in a 
hundred thousand feels any inclination to go through 
the fatigue of following him through its dark and intri- 
cate mazes. 

Whether Sir Isaac Newton was fully aware of the 
baneful tendency of his system upon shallow and 
unstable minds; or that he felt conscious that its glar- 
ing absurdities would sooner or later expose the fable to 
detection and consequent ridicule, cannot now be dis- 
covered to a certainty. It however appears highly 
probable, that in the latter part of his life, his mind was 
not quite so easy and satisfied with this favourite 
offspring of his brain as some of his professed admirers 
would persuade the world to believe. 

We are informed by his particular friend Mr. Conduit, 
that a little before his death he said, " I do not know 
what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem 
to have been only like a boy playing on the sea shore 
and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother 
pebble, or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great 



37 



ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me.'' Never, I 
believe, did the mind of Newton form a more accurate 
estimate of any thing, than what this single sentence 
contains respecting the value of his discoveries; it would 
really appear from this that he was conscious of the folly 
and of course the inutility of his elaborate inanities; 
indeed how could it be otherwise, knowing as he did 
that his system had not a single truth to repose upon. 

A recent publication by the Reverend Mr. Cormouls, 
(entitled, Eversion,) reports, that Newton in the latter 
part of his life was so uneasy respecting the conse- 
quences of his philosophical errors, that he unburthened 
his mind to young Cotes the mathematician ; and was 
even heard to say, " When I am gone Cotes will 
undeceive the world of a most remarkable error which 
it labours under." It is supposed that Cotes stood 
engaged to conceal it during Newton's life time: for, 
the latter having by his ingenuity raised himself and 
several of his disciples to affluence and renown, it would 
have required something more than common resolution 
to have retraced his steps to the portico of Euclid,* and 
there openly to have proclaimed and published to the 
world, that that geometrician and those who adopted 
his principles approached the nearest to the characters 
of true and useful mathematicians, and that he and his 
followers had not only deceived themselves, but also led 
the world into a delusive and most dangerous system of 
opinions. It however so happened that Cotes died a 

* There seems reason to suppose, even according- to his friend 
Dr. Pemberton, that Newton in the latter part of his life was sensi- 
ble of having been carried too far by his aerial mathematics, for says 
he, <f He spoke with regret of his mistake, at the beginning of his 
mathematical studies, in applying himself to the works of Descartes 
and other algebraic writers, before he had considered the elements 
of Euclid with that attention which so excellent a writer deserves." 



38 

few years before his master, and, as probably no other 
suitable confidant was to be found, the world was left 
to enjoy the delusion it had in the face of the light so 
incautiously embraced. 

On perusing and hearing praises so extravagant, as 
those lavished upon Sir Isaac Newton, it is natural to 
enquire, what are the great benefits derived by the 
world from his discoveries? One proclaims him an 
" incomparable man/' Another declares that his works 
have secured to him "an immortality of renown;" — that 
the fabrick erected by him is " as imperishable as the 
frame of nature." The monthly reviewers describe him, 
" the pride of the seventeenth century and the most 
distinguished of the sons of men}" adding, that he 
" raised himself a name that must live as long as men 
exist and which far surpasses that of princes!" 

But in order that the reader may have the creed of 
these philosophers and the eulogium of their master, 
both in one point of view, I shall here transcribe them 
from a document produced by a learned divine at 
the anniversary dinner of the Philosophical Society of 
London, on the 5th of October, 1814; and there and 
then devoutly recited and enthusiastically applauded. 

" Nature and all her works lay hid in night, 
God said, let Newton be, and all was light ! 
His daring genius pierc'd the dark profound, 
On seraph wing he roam'd creation round.* 

* No doubt the writer of this would plead poetical licence for all 
this ridiculous rodomontade. Such however was the rise and 
progress of idolatry in ancient times. Misplaced fanatical reve- 
rence ; exaggerated praise, and then adoration. This writer 
begins by falsely intimating; or rather, by positively declaring; 
that God raised up Newton to rescue his own works from darkness ; 
(though his own revelations had completely done that in the begin- 
ning,) and not satisfied with that, he then imagines him to have 



39 



Beyond where sweep the planetary train, 

Or round the pole slow wheels the frozen wain : 

To those remoter fields of dazzling light, 

Scarce reach'd by fancy in her boldest flight; 

Where sway'd by gravitation's strong controul* 

In flaming Clusters worlds unnumber'd roll. 

Oh for the tints that in the rainbow glow, 

The beams that from Golconda's diamonds flow, — 

To form of living light a radiant crown 

For Him who made its dazzling wonders known; 

And to astonished man, immers'd in shade, 

The prism's refulgent glories first display'd.f 

been invested with the divine power and prerogative of penetrating 
the dark profound, and flying on seraph wings through the universe. 
David in an elevated metaphorical description of the majesty of 
Divine Power, says, " He bowed the heavens and came down and 
darkness was under his feet. He rode upon a cherub and did fly ; 
yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Psal. xviii. 9. 

* Newton I suppose borrowed his idea of the laws of gravity 
from an observation ascribed by, I think, Plutarch to Pythagoras; 
namely; "In order that the gravity of any planet may become 
equal to that of any other nearer to the sun it ought to be increased 
in proportion as the square of its distance exceeds that of the 
other." A mere mathematical conceit founded on the form and 
properties of the sphere, as will be noticed further on. 

f His doctrine of light and colours he likewise appears to have 
borrowed from the ancient sophists. " There is nothing," says 
Sextus Empiricus, "in its own nature yellow, or white, or red ; 
sweet or bitter." Which Newton seems to have adopted in his 
theory of a colourless creation ; by which his admirers say, that he 
acquired immortal fame ; though a few others are of opinion, that 
his said theory has only verified the judgment of Plato, who, in 
allusion to the divine arrangement of colours in the rainbow, very 
justly observed, that " Should any one ever attempt by curious 
research to account for the admirable mechanism, he will by so 
doing but manifest how entirely ignorant he is of the difference 
between divine and human power." 

However, it is quite clear, that on the subject of optics, as well 
as on that of gravitation, the leading principles of his theory were 
taken from the placits of the ancient Greek philosophers. He 



40 



For him who mark'd the comet's bright career; 
Who in his balance weigh'd each rolling sphere : * 

employed himself in systematizing the inventions of others. Mr. 
Dutens quotes from Plutarch, Lucretius, &c. the following: 
" Pythagoras and his disciples after him, entertained sufficiently 
just conceptions of the formation of colours. They taught that they 
resulted solely from the different modifications of reflected light; or as 
a modern author, in explaining the sentiments of the Pythagoreans, 
expresses it, light reflecting itself with more or less vivacity, forms by 
that means our different sensations of colour. Those same philo- 
sophers of the Pythagoric school, in assigning the reason of the 
difference of colours, ascribe it to a mixture of the elements of light ; 
and divesting the atoms, or small particles of light, of all manner of 
colour, impute every sensation of that hind to the motions excited in 
our organs of sight. The disciples of Plato contributed not a little 
to the advancement of optics, by the important discovery they 
made, that light emits itself in straight lines, and that the angle of 
incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection. Plato also seems 
to have apprehended the Newtonian system of colours, for he calls 
them the effect of light transmitted from bodies, the small particles of 
which were adapted to the organ of sight. Now is not this precisely 
the same with what Sir Isaac Newton teaches " That the different 
sensations of each particular colour are excited in us by the differ- 
ence of size in those small particles of light which form the several 
rays; those small particles occasioning different images of colour, 
as the vibration is more or less lively with which they strike our 
sense?" The same philosopher, (Plato,) hath gone further; he hath 
entered into a detail of the composition of colours, and enquired 
into the visible effects that must arise from a mixture of the different 
rays of which light itself is composed. And what he advances a little 
farther on, that it was not in the power of man exactly to determine 
what the proportion of this mixture should be in certain colours, 
sufficiently shows, that he had an idea of this theory, though he 
judged it almost impossible to unfold it," &c. How far Newton, or 
those from whom he purloined his principles, have " made its 
dazzling wonders known,'" real philosophers will hereafter judge 
and award to them the portion of praise to which they are honestly 
entitled. 

* "Who, (saith God by Isaiah,) hath measured the waters in the 
hollow of his hand? and meted out heaven with a span, and com- 
prehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the 
mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" The advocates 
for the doctrine of gravity answer, Newton is the man who has 



4J 



Added fresh lustre to the solar rays* 

And wide diffus'd the intellectual blaze ! 

Give me a spot in Nature's wide domain 

Of pow'r my mighty engines to sustain. 

Give me that spot and by eternal Jove ! 

The solid earth I'll from its basis move. — 

Thus with bold vaunt exclaim'd the Grecian sage 

At Syracuse, who brav'd the Roman rage. 

Nobler his praise whose daring ken could pierce 

The laws that rule the boundless universe, 

Who op'd new worlds to our admiring eyes 

And all the latent glories of the skies.f 

On facts, not fiction, rests his fame, 

Who spann'd the arch of heav'ns eternal frame ; J t 

done it! By his mathematics he has not only measured the waters, 
air, heat and light, without stirring from his chair; but also, with- 
out scales or balance, he could weigh, not only the hills and the 
mountains, but also the great globe itself, to an ounce. Moreover 
he could tell with ease the gross weights of Jupiter, Saturn and the 
rest of the planets, respectively; - ' nay, even the proportionate weight 
of a cubic inch of any one of them when compared with the same 
bulk of another. Nor could the flamiug matter and dazzling 
splendour of the sun prevent him from ascertaining it to be two 
hundred and twenty-seven thousand times heavier than the earth! 

* By sending, for the purpose of fuel, an occasional imaginary 
comet to recruit its decaying fires! 

f The admiration of his disciples seems to be in a direct ratio to 
the daring presumption of the master, and the reason is sufficiently 
evident, — he powerfully promoted the currency of the favourite 
notion of Clusters of Worlds! Had he not done so, their praises 
never would have been so lavishly expended upon him. Newton's 
idea was, as will be shown hereafter, that innumerable worlds were 
formed by congregations of the sediments of solar light! God's 
account is, that one world was formed by the energy of his omni- 
potent word. This was too short and too simple for Christian 
philosophers; though Longinus, a heathen, was struck with the 
divine sublimity of it. 

X " My right hand," says God by Isaiah, " hath spanned the 
heavens." These devotees of Newton however assure us that he 
spanned them; and assert with the same breath that his fame rests 
on facts not fiction .' 

G 



42 



Divinely eloquent his precepts roll, 
And warm, whilst they convince th' expanding soul. 
No fine-spun theories his works disgrace;* 
Whose axioms roll on truth's eternal base, 
Great nature's laws his guide and nature's God, 
Sublime the burning galaxy he trodlf 
Those laws that to their mighty orbits chain 
The circling spheres and bound the raging main; 
And while that galaxy its beams shall shed, 
His name shall flourish and his glory spread. 

Such Newton was, and does the portrait fire 
No kindred soul like Newton to aspire? 
Like him beyond the dark terrene to soar, 
And nature in her trackless wilds explore, 
Measure the spheres, their shining orbits trace, 
And roam, delighted through the wilds of space." 

So the priests who formerly sounded forth the glories 
of the Babylonian Bell, and that of the Lady of Loretto, 
by means of wonder-fraught stories and splendid deco- 
rations of dress, so effectually contrived to awe and 
astonish their credulous devotees into an implicit and 
universal belief of their power, virtues and sanctity, 
that all suspicion of their delusions seemed to be laid fast 

* His theory of" an inch of air, such as we breathe, being rarified 
so as to fill all the planetary regions as far as the orb of Saturn and 
far beyond :'' also " that this whole globe of earth, nay all the known 
bodies in the universe together may be compounded of no greater a 
portion of solid matter than might be reduced into a globe of one 
inch — these, and many others such, are, I think, spun tolerably 
fine ! But it was a favourite Greek notion which he had borrowed 
from Democritus, who taught, that it was " possible to make a 
world out of an atom." — Stobceus Eclog. 

f " I alone," says Divine Wisdom, " compassed the circuit of 
heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep." Is it no fiction to 
transfer the divine prerogatives from the Almighty to Newton ? A 
curious portrait, truly ! 



43 



asleep. For, until the irresistible light of truth, backed 
by power, put their divinity to the test, and so opened 
the eyes of the multitude, no one was found bold enough 
to examine and expose the rotten materials which were 
dexterously concealed by interested artifice and deception. 

It is owing to the excessive adulation of a certain de- 
scription of men, that an opinion has obtained currency, 
that the world has been wonderfully obliged and benefited 
by the Newtonian speculations: for, how could any 
learned man justly term Sir Isaac 66 the pride of the 
seventeenth century — the most distinguished of the sons 
of men," if he was not in reality by his discoveries a 
most extraordinary benefactor to the human race ? How 
far he was in reality such his books of course will best 
decide. His disciples, however, will, I am firmly per- 
suaded, be as much puzzled to prove his astronomical 
speculations useful, as they have been puzzled in their 
fabrication of pretended proofs of the earth's motion, or 
the frigidity of the solar orb! Absence of proof is 
however abundantly made up by extraordinary boldness 
of assertion. 

In a very elaborate work of many hundred pages, 
entitled, " Elements of Mechanical Philosophy," is the 
following, amongst many other remarkable passages. 
(C Society," says the writer, " never would have derived 
the benefits which it has received from astronomy 
without the labours of the philosophers; for had not 
Newton, or some such exalted genius as Newton, specu- 
lated about the deflecting forces, which regulate the 
motions of the Solar System, we never should have 
acquired that exquisite knowledge of the mere pheno- 
mena that is absolutely necessary for some of the most 
important applications of them to the arts. It was 
these speculations alone that have enabled our navigators 



44 



to proceed with boldness through untried seas and in a 
few years to have almost completed the survey of the 
globe; and thus do we experience the most beneficial 
alliance of philosophy and art," 

Whilst the credit of philosophers continues to secure 
this belief, their books of course will continue to be had 
in request and their imaginary importance will be sup- 
ported. But I would ask any experienced navigator, of 
what use " speculations on the deflecting forces" would 
be to him in any sea, but more particularly an untried 
sea? Would they discover islands, rocks, and shoals ? 
Cook's predecessors, Magalhaens, Tasman, Van Noort, 
Drake, Dampier, Mendana, and other celebrated navi- 
gators, knew nothing of such speculations ; they, never- 
theless, proceeded with admirable " boldness through 
untried seas" and oceans; discovered New Holland; 
New Zealand; the Friendly Isles: Mendoza Islands, 
&c. In short they traversed the great Pacific Ocean, 
and penetrated I believe farther north than any of their 
successors have done. I will not suppose that professor 
Robison intended to impose upon his readers by such 
an unfounded assertion: I would rather suppose, that 
he made it without due reflection; or without the dis- 
coveries of former navigators occurring to his recollec- 
tion. If mariners of our own time are more skilful 
than those of former times, it is owing to others having 
led the way; and to more extensive experience by the 
universal encouragements of commerce, but by no 
means to speculative hypotheses. 

If tables of the moon's motion, constructed for find- 
ing the longitude, are more perfect than formerly, it is 
entirely owing to such accurate observations as those 
made by, and under the directions of Mr. Flamsted 
and the late Mr. Maskelyne, and not to imaginary 



45 

physical theories and pretended corrections, such as 
those of La Place, La Grange, and La Lambre; the 
introduction of theoretical results, without doing any 
real service, has rendered the construction of tables 
exceedingly complex and tedious. 

Therefore to heap extravagant praises upon the reve- 
ries of Sir Isaac Newton, is paying no compliment to the 
understanding of those who are in the habit of doing it. 
The smoke, however, of their lavished incense may be 
deemed useful in order to form a cloud over the impos- 
ing fabrick of his system, and to cover it from the 
prying eyes of plain honest men. 

That the fluxionists should presumptuously assume 
the privilege of judging and condemning divine inform- 
ation, and notwithstanding be complimented as modest 
and profound philosophers, are circumstances certainly 
not very creditable to the character of Christians for 
wise discrimination. The learned and acute Bishop 
Berkley took considerable pains to expose the impious 
absurdity. If the admirers of the theoretical Newton, 
the prophane Halley, and the sottish Emerson, would 
peruse their works with candour, it might probably help 
to liberate them from the snares of this deceitful 
philosophy. 

Very few, if any, of the truly wise and accomplished 
philosophers who adorned England in the seventeenth 
century would countenance or encourage it. Sir Francis 
Bacon and the Honorable Robert Boyle were possessed 
of the most comprehensive minds, and of every possible 
means of information, so as to enable them to draw a 
just conclusion as to the true system of the world; and 
they accordingly rejected the Copernican and declared 
for the Divine. These illustrious scholars were ac- 
quainted with the use of telescopes; but they were not 



46 



charmed with the idea of world-hunting ; they did not 
waste their time nor sacrifice their talents in perverting 
mathematics for the promotion of scepticism; but, on 
the contrary, they conceived and taught, that every view 
of the philosopher should be directed to the honor of 
God; to the use and ornament of society: for which 
noble ends they would have knowledge cultivated and 
improved to the utmost. " Let no one," says Bacon, 
upon a weak conceit, or ill-applied moderation, think, or 
maintain, that man can search too far, or be too well 
studied in the book of God's Word, or in the Book of 
God's works, divinity or philosophy: but rather let men 
awake themselves and cheerfully endeavour and pursue 
an endless progress and proficiency in both; only let 
them beware lest they apply knowledge to swelling 
not to charity; to Ostentation not to Use." Bacon 
affirmed that the theory of the earth's motion was false 
and that the first chapter of Genesis was true. 

Boyle, though skilled in the knowledge of most things 
within the sphere of human observation, appears to have 
made all his learning and all his labour subservient to a 
recommendation of the sacred books and to the service 
of society; declaring his unqualified belief of the divine 
history of the creation, and also that the miraculous fact 
recorded in the tenth chapter of the book of Joshua was 
literally true. " So far," says he, " is God unwilling 
that we should pry into his works that by divers dispen- 
sations he imposes on us little less than a necessity of 
studying them. For first he begins the book of scrip- 
ture with the description" (not the misrepresentation as 
the Newtonians will have it,) of the book of nature, of 
which he not only gives us a general account to inform 
us that he made the world, since for that end the very 
first verse in the Bible might have sufficed, but lie 



47 



vouchsafes us by detail the narrative of each day's pro- 
ceedings; and in the two first chapters of Genesis is 
pleased to give nobler hints of natural philosophy than 
men are yet perhaps aware of." He adds, " God has 
made some knowledge of his created book both con- 
ducive to the belief, and necessary to the understanding 

of his written one." " God was pleased to consider 

Man so much more than the creatures made for him, 
that he made the sun itself at one time to stand still, 
and at another time to go back, &c." — Boyle's Second 
Essay Nat. Phil. 

Both of these celebrated men diligently contemplated 
the works of God, and were therefore, it may reasonably 
be presumed, fully as competent to form a true judg- 
ment of the system of the world as those Newtonian 
mechanists and fluxionists who, shut up in their studies, 
consume their days in applying their master's method, 
without examining the soundness of his fundamental 
hypotheses; and brood over his imaginary experiments 
of cannon balls shot from the tops of mountains; — of 
hoops and soft balls of clay whirled about spindles; 
pebbles about millstones, and strings and balls about 
the finger: all of which were devised to pass off his laws 
of motion, which both nature and art disown, and 
therefore contrived only to deceive the credulous and 
ignorant. 

Sir William Temple, in his Essay upon the ancient 
and modem learning, appears to have held no very high 
opinion of modern improvements in astronomy; " For," 
says he, " there is nothing new in astronomy to vie with 
the ancients, unless it be the Copernican system; nor in 
physic, unless Harvey's circulation of the blood. But 
whether either of these be modern discoveries, or derived 
from old fountains, is disputed : nay, it is so whether 



48 



they are true or no: for though reason may seem to 
favour them more than the contrary opinion, yet sense 
can very hardly allow them; and to satisfy mankind both 
these must concur. But even admitting," he adds, 
" that the discoveries were true, they have made no 
change in the conclusions" (the useful conclusions) " of 
astronomy, nor in the practice of physic, and so have 
been of little use to the world, though perhaps of much 
honor to the authors." These observations were pub- 
lished, I believe, more than twenty years after the 
Principia of Newton appeared. 

To the foregoing, I may add an observation of that 
wise and benevolent judge, Sir Matthew Hale. In his 
book of A true Origination of Mankind and the Universe, 
he says, " I shall not here contend much touching the 
system of the universe ; whether the earth be the centre 
thereof, or the sun; whether it consist of so many 
several systems, or vortices; whether every fixed star 
hath its vortex, tind the sun the centre of the planetary 
vortex, only thus much I shall say, 1. That this 
Divine hypothesis delivered to us by the hand of Moses 
seems icholly to contradict the supposition of solid orbs, 
and strongly concludes that the heavenly bodies are moved 
in liquid (Ether. 2. It seems rather to countenance that 
system of the universe that supposeth the earth to be the 
common centre thereof than the imaginary hypotheses of 
Copernicus, Galileus, Kepler, and Descartes. 3. That it 
utterly contradicts the hyjjotheses of Aristotle and Ocellus 
and the Pythagoreans touching the eternity of the world, 
or of the heavens; and likewise the fiction of Democritus 
and Epicurus of the casual coalition of the universe by the 
motion or interfering of atoms." To which last fiction 
Sir Isaac Newton appears to have adhered, and so his 
followers will continue as long as Greek fiction shall be 



49 



preferred before divine information. But I do not 
quote the opinions of these accomplished men for the 
purpose of guiding others : my object is to show, that 
those who from habits of reflection, advantages of 
education, and extensive experience, were most com- 
petent to form a correct judgment, attached little or no 
value to what is now so generally held up as the most 
sublime of human inventions, and the most important of 
human pursuits. But let eVery one seriously reflect, 
and then candidly adopt that belief which he finds most 
consonant to the cool dictates of his own judgment. 



H 



50 



CHAPTER III. 

ENUMERATION OF ASTRONOMICAL SYSTEMS NEW- 
TONIAN DOCTRINE OF WORLDS FORMING THEMSELVES 
OUT OF SOLAR VAPOUR AND SEDIMENTS OF LIGHT; 
—OF HELL, ACCORDING TO THE BELIEF OF SOME OF 
NEWTON'S FOLLOWERS, BEING PLACED IN THE SUN, 
AND THE DESTRUCTION, OR RENOVATION, OF WORLDS 
BY FALLING INTO IT ;— OF THE EARTH BEING FORMED 
OUT OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF A COMET ACCORDING 
TO WHISTON;— OF AN EARTH AND A HEAVEN WITH 
ITS LUMINARIES WITHIN OUR EARTH, ACCORDING 
TO DR. HALLE Y; AND OF PLANETS, ACCORDING TO 
LA PLACE, FORMING THEMSELVES OUT OF DENSE 
SOLAR ATMOSPHERES. 



Astronomers have, under various pretences, imagin- 
ed and promulgated several Systems of the Universe; 
of which may be mentioned, firstly, the first Pythagorean, 
said to have been borrowed from the Chaldeans, and 
afterwards embraced by Aristotle, Ptolemy and Proclus. 
Secondly, the Platonic, orPorphyrian System. Thirdly, 
the Egyptian System, adopted by Vitruvius, Macrobius, 
Capella and some other distinguished authors. Fourth- 
ly, the Tychonic; and, fifthly, the Semi-Tychonic, or 
the System of Ricciolus. But as, in these several 
schemes, the earth is considered as occupying the 
centre of the universe, it is of no great consequence to 
notice here the points on which their inventors appear 
to have disagreed. I therefore proceed, sixthly, to 



51 



notice that which is termed the second Pythagorean 
system, which is conceived upon a plan nearly the 
reverse of all the rest. I say the second Pythagorean 
System; for, it appears hy the Commentaries of 
Hierocles on the golden verses of Pythagoras, and is 
confirmed by Pliny, that he at one time considered 
the earth to be placed in the centre. 

But that philosopher, either not satisfied with the 
simplicity of the system which he had learned during his 
travels through the East, or being desirous of flattering 
the prejudices of his countrymen, who contemplated 
the sun as their supreme God;* he, in order to gain their 
applause, or to excite their admiration by novelty, (for 
Pliny says he was a man of a warm, and lively imagina- 
tion,) assured them, that the object of their adoration 
rested in the centre of the universe; and that the 
planets — the other subordinate deities, which they were 
taught to believe had emanated from him, — were in 
motion about him. There were some, it appears, 
however, amongst the learned men who opposed the 
novelty, esteeming it prophane; particularly the phi- 
losopher Cleanthes who, according to history, was of 
opinion, that Aristarchus, who had adopted it, ought to 
have been tried by the Greeks for irreligion. This 
opposition probably had the effect of giving it currency 
for a time. But as soon as the mental effervescence, 
created by the novelty of the doctrine, cooled and sub- 
sided, and deliberate reason resumed the judgment seat; 
the ponderous globe of earth was again, by general 
agreement, allowed to fill its ancient cential situation; 

* So Josephus says the Athenians believed. And it is mentioned 
by Diogenes Laertius, that because poor Anaxagoras maintained 
an opinion that the sun was a burning plate he was tried for his life 
for the impiety. 



52 



and the sun as before to perform his daily service about 
it. So this disposition of both bodies appears to have 
remained until, as we are told by a writer of the seven- 
teenth century, " it was resuscitated from oblivion and 
the grave by a Cardinal Casanus, and afterwards adopted 
and taught by Copernicus/' It was not supposed by 
the learned in general, in those days, that Copernicus 
really believed in the inverted order of things as repre- 
sented by his scheme. Mr. Blundevil, (who had been 
tutor in Lord Bacon's family,) in his Cosmography, 
adverting to this hypothesis, observes; " Some deny 
that the earth is in the midst of the world, and some 
affirm that it is moveable, as Copernicus, by way of 
supposition and not that he thought so indeed" Whatever 
he or his followers really thought; or whatever they may 
pretend respecting the optical proofs which they say they 
have in favour of the hypothesis; or of its great con- 
venience for calculation; the favourite object they have 
had in view, and of which they have, in opposition to 
the first chapter of Genesis, laboured to establish a gene- 
ral belief; is the doctrine of a countless plurality of 
worlds ! To affect which, the fable that Copernicus inef- 
fectually laboured to establish, Newton's fertile imagina- 
tion vamped up anew, in a shape so plausible and fasci- 
nating, that before there was time for sufficient reflection 
upon it, it had been received and recommended by a con- 
siderable number of mathematical logicians of eminence. 

With reasons recommended by elegance of language, 
school method, and curious experiments; all mathema- 
tically clothed and magisterially delivered; Newton 
became elevated above all the theorists in Europe. 
His genius, says one of his trumpeters, enlarged the 
boundaries of the universe! That is the subject of their 
perpetual gratitude ! Truly, we must confess, that the 



53 



extraordinary liberality of his imaginary creation and 
distribution of worlds, suns and terrible fiery comets, 
with all the wonderful things said to be appertaining to 
them, places our poor Earth in the back ground and 
attaches to it a character of, comparatively, insignificant 
nothingness. This wonderful metamorphosis passed off 
with great eclat, and was generally adopted as absolute 
reality and truth, upon the ground work of certain 
curious experiments made by Newton in his study with 
strings, balls, glasses, feathers, soap-sud-bubbles and 
other articles of equal importance, which he dexterously 
managed to pass off as proofs in support of his doctrines 
concerning the moving forces, and ceconomy of the 
heavenly bodies. 

The sentiments of Sir Isaac Newton, concerning the 
origin and destruction of his imaginary worlds, are 
certainly very remarkable, and in my opinion quite 
worthy of the other parts of his elaborate plans. And 
to do him justice I shall give them exactly in the words 
of his particular friend Mr. Conduit. " He, Sir Isaac, 
repeated to me, by way of discourse, very distirictly, that 
the vapours of light emitted by the sun, which had their 
sediment as water and other matter, had gathered them- 
selves by degrees into a body* and attracted more matter 

* By the agency, I suppose he meant, of that forming and moving 
spirit mentioned in the last passage of the Principia. The Edin- 
burgh professor, in his " Elements of Mechanical Philosophy," 
seems angry and grieved, that Newton, whom he terms one of the 
most pious of mankind, should have been set at the head of the 
atheistical sect; and that they should have established the doctrine 
of universal fate on his great discovery of gravitation. Blameable 
they certainly have been, and highly so, for blindly adopting his 
crude notions of sediments of light forming themselves into worlds. 
But then he, as a professor of Christianity, was most reprehensible 
for promulgating such gross nonsense, with all that oracular 
authority which caused it to pass upon weak minds for veritable 
information. 



54 



from the planets, and at last made a secondary planet, 
and then by gathering to them and attracting more 
matter, become a primary planet; and then by increas- 
ing still became a comet; which after certain revolutions, 
by coming nearer and nearer to the sun, had all its 
volatile parts condensed and became a matter Jit to 
recruit and replenish the sun, which must waste by the 
constant heat and light it emitted, as a faggot would 
this fire if put into it; (we were sitting by a wood fire,) 
and that would probably be the effect of the comet of 
1680, sooner or later, for, by the observations made 
upon it, it appeared to come to the sun with a tail only 
two or three degrees long, but by the heat it contracted 
in going so near the sun it seemed to have a tail of 
thirty or forty degrees when it went from it; that he 
would not say when this comet would drop into the sun; 
it might, have perhaps, five or six revolutions more first, 
but, whenever it did, it would so much increase the heat 
of the sun that this earth would be burnt and no animals 
in it could live" No wonder that people are so dreadfully 
alarmed at the appearance of these bodies ! — as I had an 
opportunity of witnessing in the year 1811. Such were 
the principles of creation and destruction which our 
great philosopher taught! The people who could 
receive and believe the account might, in point of 
intellect, rank with those in ancient times, who forsak- 
ing the living God, bowed before the calves of Jeroboam. 
It was however received with the most profound reve- 
rence like every other wonder that was revealed by the 
same oracle. 

A learned theologian of the last century taught that 
" both this globe and the planets owe their subsistence 
to the sun, as every one may gather from the informa- 
tion of his senses, or from the writings of natural j)hiloso- 



55 



pliers; and as they derive their subsistence so does it 
follow by a natural deduction of reason that they derive 
also their existence from it ; seeing that continual sub- 
sistence implies a continuance of first existence and 
consequently that this natural world was created by God 
through the instrumentality of the sun." This is 
deemed a regular chain of philosophical reasoning, and 
believed by great numbers to be conclusive: but I 
would ask, is not water as necessary to human subsist- 
ence as fire ? Has it not in the order of creation, 
according to God's account, a priority of existence ? If 
so, then it would be as reasonable to assert that man 
derived his existence from water, — that the Egyptians 
derived their existence from the Nile, because its over- 
flowings are as necessary to their subsistence as the 
animating warmth of the sun ; for, were it not for the 
former the powerful heat of the latter would burn every 
thing up, and either destroy or drive the inhabitants 
away to another country. But it seems that the sun is as 
necessary to these philosophers, in the creations of their 
fancy, as burning Etna was to a certain Greek deity in 
the fabrication of his vulcanian wonders. Their imagina- 
tions, however, go far beyond those of the Greek 
fabulists. Jupiter is said to have been furnished by 
Vulcan with thunder only for the destruction of the 
giants; but the imaginations of our philosophers furnish 
the Power of gravity with fiery comets to burn up, or 
dash into atoms, whole worlds. 

The learned and Reverend Tobias Swinden in his 
cc Enquiry into the Nature and Place of Hell/' (which 
book he dedicated to the Bishop of Rochester,) adopted 
Newton's curious doctrine of worlds falling into the 
sun! And very elaborately endeavoured to prove, that 
the sun is the scat of hell; in which wonderful opinion 



56 



he was supported by the Rev. William Wall. So that 
according to the profound conclusions of philosophers 
and divines, this beautiful and well-furnished globe 
arose from hell and to hell it will return with an accele- 
rated velocity ! The last named gentleman, with aston- 
ishing gravity, puts the question, " Whether the body 
of the earth when burned to a coal by the sun will, like 
a nutshell let fall into a great flame/' (mark the simile !) 
be tossed out again and carried to a new and better 
place in the firmament," (but how could it escape the 
fangs of Newtonian gravity ?) 66 and become a New 
Earth," (from an old one burnt in hell to a coal!) u in 
a new heaven, or sky, and there be the scene of the 
millennial state, / forbear to consider, &c." A very 
prudent forbearance, but why then propose the question ? 
Men who could entertain such notions as these seem to 
have had minds prepared to believe any thing provided 
it came from a philosopher. 

Though the subject of these pages does not require 
me to discuss the existence or situation of the place in 
question, I will just notice the shallow grounds of their 
reasoning. The Jewish belief certainly was that it 
existed within the globe of the earth, as appears 
from a piece written expressly on the subject by Jose- 
phus. But Mr. Swinden observes, ce If it were an 
absolute necessity laid on us from revelation to believe 
the hell to be in the body of the earth, we must then 
account for it this way, viz. by spirits admitting penetra- 
tion of dimensions; there being no other way left whereby 
we can possibly suppose the infinite number of devils and 
damned spirits to be contained in it." In the first place 
the scripture no where leads us to suppose that the 
number of such is infinite; but if infinite neither the 
sun nor any other finite space could hold them without, 



57 



as he observes, penetration of dimensions; that is, 
unless more than one were capable of occupying the 
same space at the same moment. We know something 
of the history of the world upon which we live, and 
therefore are able to form an idea of the probable 
amount of human beings which have, since the creation, 
been produced upon it. It is said at this time to 
contain about 800,000,000 of inhabitants; but I will 
suppose it to contain 1,000,000,000 and the average 
population since the creation and for six thousand years 
to come, 500,000,000. Now, according to the bills of 
mortality, about a thirtieth part die annually, namely 
16,666,666. This multiplied by twelve thousand years 
gives about 200,000,000,000, for the total amount of 
human beings who will have had existence at the end of 
twelve thousand years from the creation. The question 
then is, what space would that multitude occupy in, or 
upon, this globe ? I answer, that a space equal to 
the surface of Great Britain would not only allow 
them standing room, but also room for each in a re- 
clining posture; for if, as geographers inform us, it 
contains a surface of ninety-four thousand square miles, 
the number of square yards will be 293,652,480,000. 
Therefore if this earth were to exist for millions of 
years, with a continual re-production of inhabitants, 
there would be plenty of room for them all, whether 
embodied or disembodied. 

Should it be objected that Newton himself did not 
publish what Mr. Conduit has reported ; I would remark, 
that the doctrines of some celebrated philosophers of 
former times, though distinguished sects were founded by 
them, were not published by themselves; they were 
nevertheless answerable for their opinions and doctrines, 
though promulgated by their disciples. It is however 



58 



sufficiently manifest from Newton's own writings, that 
what I have quoted from Mr. Conduit were the real 
opinions which he himself professed ; for in the 
Thirtieth Question, inserted at the end of his Treatise 
on Optics, the fourth edition of which he had prepared 
for the press a short time before his death; he asks, 
" Are not gross bodies and light convertible into one 
another?" and further on, " the changing of bodies into 
light and light into bodies, is very conformable to the 
course of nature, which seems delighted with transmu- 
tations." Having suffered his own imagination to 
create solid, though imperceptible, particles of matter 
of various sizes and shapes; he then in order to give 
effect to his own creation, — or rather to the creation of 
his masters Leucippus, Democritus and Epicurus, — 
brings in the name of God, who, he supposes, " in the 
beginning, formed matter, in solid, massy, hard, impe- 
netrable, moving particles, of such sizes and figures, 
and with such other properties, and in such proportion 
to space, as most conduced to the end for which he 
formed them; and that those primitive particles being 
solids, are incomparably harder than any porous bodies 
compounded of them;" (namely, visible bodies) " even 
so hard as never to break in pieces; no ordinary power 
being able to divide what God himself made one in the 
first creation. While the particles continue entire, they 
may compose bodies of one and the same nature and 
texture in all ages : but should they wear away, or break 
in pieces:" (they were just now supposed to be so hard 
as never to break in pieces,) " the nature of things 
depending on them would be changed. Water and earth, 
composed of old worn-out particles, would not be of the 
same nature and texture now, with water and earth 
composed of entire particles in the beginning." Here 



59 



he talks about a thing being worn out, or breaking in 
pieces, that was never yet seen or felt. However, as 
water and earth, for aught we know to the contrary,, 
are still the same as they ever were, we will suppose, 
that his invisible primordial particles are not broken or 
worn out; or that they never existed any where ex- 
cept in the capillaments of his own brain. Having 
however, in imagination, created his primitive particles 
of matter, consistency obliged him also to employ 
imaginary ee agents in nature able to make the particles 
of bodies stick together by very strong attractions : and," 
he adds, " it is the business of experimental philosophy 
to find them out." Having puzzled the philosophers 
all his life time, he, in his Thirty-one Questions at the 
end of his Optics, seems to have set before them work 
enough to puzzle them to the end of time; and here, 
amongst many other things, the experimentalists are to 
find out agents to make particles stick together, which 
particles cannot be perceived nor even be proved to 
exist! However, he supposes that they actually do 
exist, and that they " have not only a vis inertia" 
(that is, a force of inactivity,) " accompanied with such 
passive laws of motion, as naturally result from that 
force" (namely the force of no force,) " but also, that 
they are moved by certain active principles, such as is 
that of gravity and that which causes fermentation and 

the cohesion of bodies." But why should the cause 

of fermentation be brought in amongst these imaginary 
particles where there is no fermentation to be carried 
on? He evidently found his solid particles to be 
unmanageable by the principles of motion above- 
mentioned, and therefore, as is customary with the 
philosophers of this school, when they cannot make parts 
fit, they bring in some name, or epithet, to assist them 



60 



in their creation. " Now/' says he, " by the help of these 
principles, all material things, seem to have been com- 
posed of the hard and solid particles above-mentioned, 
variously associated in the first creation by the counsel 
of an intelligent Agent. For it became him who created 
them to set them in order." Other romance writers 
generally manage matters better, for, they set the 
beings of their own creation in order themselves. All 
this is certainly very wonderful! The Marquis de 
V Hospital might well ask, if " Mr. Newton eat, drank, 
and slept like other people ?" 

Sir Isaac Newton, in the establishment of his System 
of Wonders was fortunate in meeting with a company 
of disciples, who in the stupendous works of imagina- 
tion not only kept pace with him, but even went 
far beyond him. The imaginations of the heathens 
created gods according to their wants : so the imagina- 
tions of philosophers create principles of motion, or any 
other principles, to enable them to solve all sorts of 
phcenomena. 

While Newton's inventive powers created visible 
worlds from invisible particles, his friend Dr. Halley 
created an invisible ivorld with its system of luminaries, 
under ground. The mysterious properties of the magnet 
puzzled him ; and he was for some time at a loss for a 
theory to explain the variations of the magnetic needle; 
and as he could not discover any visible cause that 
would account for it; his imagination, after working for 
some time, set in motion an invisible one; namely, " a 
loose internal nucleus within the earth : and while pur- 
suing that idea, he conjectured, that the world we live 
upon may have another habitable world within, sur- 
rounded by a system of luminaries, similar to those which 
give light to the upper earth. He was of opinion, that 



61 



the supposition of such a planetary heaven under ground 
would account for the difference between the specific 
gravities of the earth and the moon" It will scarcely be 
credited, says Mr. Jones, from whose book I have 
before quoted, " that any author could seriously advance 
such a wild hypothesis; but mathematical vanity hath 
its legends, and can be as credulous, upon occasion, as 
the vanity of superstition. 5 ' The paper in which Dr. 
Halley proposed this theory, is printed in a volume 
entitled Miscellanea Curioso, page 43, &c. That, cer- 
tainly, was the proper place for such a paper, for it is a 
great philosophical curiosity; many have, however, been 
produced from the same school which are equally en- 
titled to a place in the same miscellany. In that school 
imagination was allowed to have its full play, and the 
learned Doctor had as great a right to promulgate the 
theory of a heaven being situated within the earth, as his 
coadjutors had to teach that there are earths in heaven; 
or that dark opaque bodies shine like those of a crystal- 
line nature,— that black is white ! 

Mr. Whiston, another learned disciple of Sir Isaac 
Newton, seems to have possessed imaginative powers 
equal to those of his master. He laboured to produce 
a belief, that the world we live on was formed out of a 
comet's atmosphere, and that another comet caused the 
universal deluge. <e His whole system," says Mr. Jones, 
(i reads much like a dream. No man in his sober senses 
would have ventured to reveal it to the world, that the 
earth we inhabit was made out of the matter of a 
comet's atmosphere; that on the first day of the deluge, 
a comet passed just before the body of the earth; and 
that all this was reasonable upon the ground of some 
new and wonderful discoveries in astronomy." By whom 
were those wonderful discoveries made ? Was it not by 



62 



the master at whose feet Whiston was trained for twenty 
years ? Had not the disciple as great a right to exercise 
his imagination in the creation of a world out of a 
comet's tail, as the master had to exercise his in the 
creations which I have mentioned? The unnatural 
creations and violent motions of this system appear to 
have turned the heads of all those whose minds were 
imbued with its principles. In other respects it appears 
by the accounts of Mr. Whiston's character drawn up 
by Bishop Hare and Mr. Collins, that he was a man of 
great learning and of the most inflexible integrity. His 
sentiments were open and sincere; and neither the risk 
of losing a situation, nor any hope of preferment, was 
ever allowed to restrain him from publishing whatever 
he deemed to be necessary for the vindication of truth. 
He lost his Lucasian Professorship in consequence of 
the opinions he held concerning what is called the Arian 
heresy: and he gave offence to the heads of the church 
by his opposition to some parts of the Athanasian creed. 
When Dr. Clarke wrote to him to suppress a piece, (in 
which he proved that our Saviour had several brothers 
and sisters, of whom Joseph was the father and the 
Virgin Mary the mother,) not on account of its being 
false, but that the common opinion might go undis- 
turbed; he observed, that " Such motives were of no 
weight with him, compared with the discovery and 
propagation of truth." Indeed his whole life showed a 
firmness and an independence of mind that have been 
equalled by few. He had even the temerity to contra- 
dict Sir Isaac Newton* upon some particular point, by 

* Mr. Whiston's character of Sir Isaac is as follows. " Sir Isaac 
was of the most fearful, cautious, and suspicious temper, that lever 
knew; and had he been alive, when I wrote against his Chronology, 
and so thoroughly confuted it, that nobody has ever since vindicated 



63 



which he lost his favour and friendship; and in conse- 
quence of which, when he was proposed in 1720, by 
Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Halley to the Royal Society as 
a member, he was refused admittance by Sir Isaac 
Newton the president; — a sufficient warning to all 
those who knew how tenacious he was of his favourite 
opinions, and who aspired to a seat in that illustrious 
society. A similar spirit seems to characterise his 
intolerant followers. 

But the imagination of La Place, " the finisher of 
the Newtonian System," in marvellous works of crea- 
tion and destruction, appears if possible, to have 
far transcended all those that preceded him. He 
supposes the sun to be surrounded by an atmosphere 
which formerly extended beyond the boundary of the 
planetary system; and that in consequence of successive 
changes which have taken place in the central body, the 
sun, its atmosphere has at different times become con- 
tracted and condensed into rings, or zones: that out of 
the condensed matter of such rings, or zones, attraction 
formed, in succession, all the planets, which received 
the same velocity that the condensed atmosphere 
happened to have at the time round the sun: for, he is 
of opinion, that if the planets had been formed inde- 
pendently of those condensed zones, their motions 
would have been stopped by that condensed atmosphere 
when passing them in its approach towards the sun; and 
that they would in consequence have fallen upon, or 
into, the sun : therefore the planetary bodies, our earth 

it, I should not have thought proper to publish my confutation ; 
because I knew his temper so well, that I should have expected it 
would have killed him: as Dr. Bentley, Bishop Stillingfleet's 
chaplain, told me, that he believed Mr. Locke's thorough confuta- 
tion of the Bishop's metaphysicks about the Trinity hastened his 
end also. 



64 



of course included, were formed by attraction in those 
condensed zones, which by their successive contractions 
left them revolving in the orbits in which they were 
respectively formed. From all of which reasoning he 
concludes that the sun's atmosphere, at present, does 
not extend to the orbit of the planet Mercury. The 
obstructions which several comets have "met with in 
passing through this atmosphere, when more extended, 
he imagines must have destroyed their projectile forces, 
and so, by leaving them to the power of gravity, they 
must have been forced back to the sun. He further 
supposes, in like manner, that the satellites must have 
been formed from the atmospheres of the primaries; 
that the rings of Saturn are condensations of its atmo- 
sphere, and that they revolve round that planet accord- 
ing to its diurnal motion : of course it is to be inferred, 
that those rings are destined, in process of time, to 
increase the number of its satellites. How unfortunate 
that the world has not seen one satellite formed out of 
them; because that might have been produced as an 
experimental proof of the truth of his system ! In pro- 
ceeding in the stupendous works of his imagination, he 
conceives invisible suns to exist, at least as numerous as the 
visible stars; which suns, owing to their immense sizes, 
(some of which he imagines may exceed by two hundred 
and fifty times the supposed size of our sun, which 
would make them about 6,000,000 of miles in diameter !) 
by the amazing power of attraction in their bodies, will 
not permit even the rays of light to leave them, so as to 
reach our eyes, and that consequently they will remain 
to us for ever in obscurity; unless some great change 
take place in their bodies, such as appeared in the year 
1572, in one of the stars which forms the constellation 
of Cassiopaea. These creations, with many others which 



65 



might be extracted from his books, are certainly mar- 
vellous; — in every respect worthy of the " finisher of 
the Newtonian system." If true, they most certainly 
C( scatter the Christian, or rather Jewish, system, like 
feathers in the air." Had Newton lived to see these 
improvements on his own creation of wonders, they could 
not have failed to have thrown him into an ecstasy of 
delight : for, I verily believe, that it is scarcely possible 
to stretch the imaginative powers much farther than 
they have been carried in La Place's system of the 
world. His self-complacency, on reviewing his work, 
breaks out in these words; — " Contemplated as one 
grand whole, astronomy is the most beautiful monument 
of the human mind; the noblest record of its intelli- 
gence." Like that of every other writer who despises the 
wisdom and the experience of the ancients, the style of 
this writer is flippant and inflated. He magnifies the 
monument of his own creation above all the monuments 
of the ancient sages, in religion, morals, and legisla- 
tion ; — " above all that is called God !" His eulogium, 
however, would, I am of opinion have been more correct 
had it stood thus. ee Contemplated as one delusive whole, 
my system of the world is one of the most impious monu- 
ments of the human mind; one of the most insidious 
records of its daring presumption." He proceeds; 
" seduced by the illusions of the senses, and of self-love, 
man considered himself, for a long time, as the centre of 
the motions of the celestial bodies, and his pride was justly 
jmnished by the vain terrors they inspired." No, no; — 
God did not give us our senses to seduce and deceive, 
but to inform our understandings; and our understand- 
ings, aided by our senses, will, it is hoped, by and by 
enable us to penetrate and clearly expose the impious 
designs of philosophers. Was it pride then in man to 

K 



66 



believe what God and his senses have informed him? 
Is it not pride and presumption too, to attempt to draw 
man away from these evidences? — As to vain terrors, I 
shall hereafter show that God himself warned man 
against them, and I shall also show that the supersti- 
tious followers of Newton have increased them a 
hundred fold. He then goes on, " The labour of 
many ages has at length withdrawn the veil which 
covered the system." That is to say, the labours of a 
few speculative sophists, during the last two hundred 
years, have withdrawn the veil that should for ever have 
consigned the heathenish fable of Pythagoras to oblivion. 
Again, " Man appears upon a small planet, almost 
imperceptible in the vast extent of the Solar System, 
itself, only an insensible point in the immensity of space." 
So then the earth, with man upon it, is almost imper- 
ceptible; while the. whole system is an insensible point. — 
" The sublime results to which this discovery has led, 
may console him for the limited place assigned him in 
the universe/' For my part, I cannot derive the least 
consolation from the sublime discovery; I rather console 
myself in the hope, that the imposition will, before long, 
be fully exposed and rejected by every rational mind. 
" Let us carefully preserve, and even augment the 
number of these sublime discoveries, which form the 
delight of thinking beings." I have already given some 
proofs of the sublimity of these discoveries, and shall, by 
and by, give a few more, and then leave them to be 
reflected on by those thinking beings whose minds are 
peculiarly susceptible of the delightful entertainment. 
" They have rendered important services to navigation 
and astronomy: but their great benefit has been the 
having dissipated the alarms occasioned by extraordinary 
celestial phenomena, and destroyed the errors springing 



67 



from the ignorance of our true relation with nature: 
errors so much the more fatal, as social order can only 
rest on the bases of those relations. Truth, Justice; 
these are its immutable laws." This is a dark passage; 
and I agree with professor Robison, that it contains 
" more than meets the ear;" but what is this great 
benefit that these philosophers have imparted to man- 
kind? Do their efforts induce a belief, that the opera- 
tions of the elements of matter, are left to their imaginary 
physical and mechanical powers, and to chance? Are 
we no longer to believe, that He who formed the world 
does not superintend its movements; that He no longer 
sends His signs; nor convulses the elements; that 
desolating earthquakes and storms are not under His 
direction; and in short, that He does not manifest Him- 
self in any way to make mankind stand in awe of His 
almighty power? If such be not the meaning of this 
dark oracle, 1 cannot conceive what it is. As to such a 
belief inspiring terror, I am well persuaded, both from 
experience and observation, that those who really hold it, 
are infinitely less under the dominion of fear than those 
who reject it. But these sublime discoveries, he says, have 
destroyed the " errors springing from the ignorance of our 
true relation with nature: errors so mnch the more fatal, 
as social order can only rest on the bases of these rela- 
tions" There he has left us again to feel our way in the 
dark. How is the knowledge of these sublime discoveries 
to influence or regulate social order; or how does an 
ignorance of them produce fatal errors? Supposing 
that all the world believed the earth, when compared 
with the other parts of the universe, to be an insensible 
point; and, that this insensible point was formed by 
attraction out of a solar atmosphere: what, in the name 
of wonder, has this to do with social order? But if he 



68 



mean, that his creation, ought to supplant the scriptural 
account of creation ; his laws of motion, the true order 
of nature ; and his dictum, the laws of God: in that view 
I know what to think concerning his dark muttering 
about fatal errors. Truth and Justice he says are its 
immutable laws. The laws of what? If he mean, that 
truth and justice ought to form the bases of the laws of 
social order, all must assent to so evident a truism. 
He then abruptly concludes with this passage, " Far 
from us be the dangerous maxim, that it is sometimes 
useful to mislead, to deceive, and enslave mankind to 
insure their happiness. Cruel experience has at all times 
proved, that with impunity these sacred laws can never 
be infringed." So ends what professor Robison termed, 
the ungraceful parody upon the concluding reflections 
of his illustrious master. Tyrants and selfish individuals 
may have adopted such a Machiavelian maxim, for the 
purpose of advancing their own private views, or for the 
accomplishment of some oppressive scheme; but never 
for the purpose of "ensuring the happiness of man- 
kind." He has left us as much in the dark concerning 
his sacred laws — as to where they are to be found, — * 
as he has concerning his obscure suns. Solomon, who 
had learned astronomy from a greater master than 
Newton, though a king himself, has not left us to grope 
our way on that subject : he clearly points to those Laws 
which are truly sacred ; which contain the bases of the 
only practical system of equality; which equally protect 
governors and the governed in their just rights; and 
which award the same punishments to all for violation 
of them. He well knew that those laws, if duly admini- 
stered, would secure the prosperity of both kings and 
people; and as La Place seems to point to governments, 
I will quote the following passage from Solomon's 



69 



admirable book in which he treats on the duty of 
kings. " Hear therefore, O ye kings, and understand; 
learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth. Give 
ear, you that rule the people, and glory in the multitude 
of nations. For power is given you of the Lord, and 
sovereignty from the highest, who shall try your works, 
and search out your counsels. Because being ministers 
of His kingdom, ye have not judged aright, nor kept the 
Law, nor walked after the counsel of God. Horribly 
and speedily shall he come upon you; for a sharp judg- 
ment shall be to them that be in high places. — If your 
delight be then in thrones and sceptres, O ye kings of 
the people, honor wisdom that ye may reign for ever- 
more." — Wisdom, chap. vi. 



70 



CHAPTER IV. 

ON THE NEWTONIAN THEORY OF GRAVITY ;— ITS 
APPLICATION TO ACCOUNT FOR THE PLANETARY MO- 
TIONS AND TO WEIGH THE SUN AND PLANETS;— TO 
EXPLAIN THE EBBING AND FLOWING OF THE TIDES; 
—TO REMEDY THE DECAYS OF THE UNrVERSE, BY 
THE OCCASIONAL DESTRUCTION OF OLD SUNS, AND 
THE FORMATION OF THEM INTO NEW ONES IN THE 
HERSCHELLIAN LABORATORIES OF THE UNIVERSE ! 



A System which has been founded in error, if conti- 
nued, must necessarily be supported on false principles 
of reasoning. Therefore philosophers having imagined 
that their worlds are formed of innumerable emanations 
from innumerable suns, they have further imagined 
what they term laws of motion, which they say are abso- 
lutely necessary to uphold and sustain them in their 
several courses. And, in order that the reveries of their 
imaginations may assume the substantial character of 
realities, they, by an unpardonable prostitution of 
mathematics, make a great and mysterious parade of 
figures and symbols; and so impose upon the world 
phantoms of the brain for demonstrations of essential 
truth.* 

* I am not singular in this opinion, of the occasional misapplica- 
tion of'mathematics. Mr.O'Gallagher in his "Essay on the Investi- 
gation of the First Principles of Nature," vol. 1 , page 95, makes these 
observations. " Neither are mathematical calculations, however 
ingenious, to be looked upon as a confirmation of a physical system, 
or as responsible proofs of the actual being of the agents supposed ; 

1 



71 



They begin by supposing a bullet to be shot from the 
top of a high mountain; and they tell us, that if it were 
not prevented by the resistance of the air and the attrac- 
tion of the earth, it would fly onward in a straight line 
to all eternity!* Having sufficiently supposed that, they 
then proceed, upon an idea of Plato and Galileo, further 
to suppose, that their solar worlds were similarly project- 
ed and deflected in spaces where no air obstructs; and 
after having brooded over the astonishing supposition 
until they believe, or affect to believe, it to be a reality; 
wrapt up in wonder they exclaim, " what a prodigious 
attractive power must the sun then have to draw all the 
planets and satellites of the system towards him; and 
what an amazing Power must it have required to put 
all these planets and moons in such rapid motions at 
first! Amazing indeed to us because impossible to be 
effected by the strength of all the living creatines in an 

because mathematics only compute and ascertain the ratio and 
proportion of the forces supposed ; but never indicate the nature 
or cause of those forces; it being very easy to adjust ratios on false 
principles.'* 

* Newton's account of this imaginary experiment is as follows: "If 
a leaden ball, projected from the top of a mountain by the force of 
gunpowder with a given velocity,, and in a direction parallel to the 
horizon, is carried in a curve line to the distance of two miles be- 
fore it falls to the ground ; the same if the resistance of the air was 
took away, with a double, or decuple velocity, would fly double or 
ten times as far. And by increasing the velocity, we may at pleasure 
increase the distance to which it might be projected, and diminish 
the curvature of the line, which it might describe, till at last it 
should fall at the distance of ten, thirty, or ninety degrees, or even 
might go quite round the whole earth before it falls ; or lastly, so that 
it might never fall to the earth, but go forward into the celestial 
spaces, and proceed in its motion in infinitum." Thus Newton 
begins to set his worlds in motion! he increases the velocity and 
distance of his leaden ball, as he says, at pleasure, until at length he 
sends it quite round the globe ! and this he effected with the same 
facility with which he created his worlds out of the sediments of 
solar light. He had only to imagine it and the thing was done! 



72 



unlimited number of worlds, but no way hard for the 
Almighty whose planetarium takes in the whole universe. 
That the projectile force was first given by the Deity is 
evident." 

True, O great philosophers ! Not a million of Her- 
culeses assisted by all the levers and all the powers of 
your mechanical system, could have set the heavens in 
motion; — that is quite certain; we needed not the 
authority of a Newtonian to assure us of that. But 
why not be consistent? If worlds, according to the 
principles of your master Epicurus,* form themselves 
out of atoms, or out of certain sediments of vapour and 
light, by gravitation; why not set themselves in motion — 
why bring in the Almighty's name? Your imaginations 
raise up extraordinary phantoms in abundance: and 
then, to secure your followers in the spell of your own 
incantations, you cover and consecrate the impious folly 
of your proceedings, by bringing forward the Divine 
Name to recommend and give currency to your fancies. 
You first imagine a thing; then consider it a reality — 
and finally represent it as the work of God ! Such folly 
may justly be compared with that which, as Solomon 
observed, (e ascribed unto stones and stocks the incom- 
municable Name!" But the atheistical La Place was 
more consistent. 

Attractive and projectile forces, it appears, were imagin- 
ed by certain Greek and Roman writers. These notions 
were intimated by the poet Lucretius, and, the combina- 
tion of both, by Plutarch, who compared the forces that 
were supposed to give motion to, and retain the moon in, 

*Mr. Good says, "The Epicurism ofGassendi was embraced by 
the most eminent modern philosophers, and at last appears to have 
obtained an eternal triumph from its application by Newton and 
Huygens to the department of natural philosophy! " 



73 



her orbit, to the experiment of a ball fastened to a string 
and whirled by a circular motion about the finger. This 
was adopted by Newton* to illustrate what he meant by 

* But he bad not the candour to acknowledge the source whence 
he drew the principles of his system. « Plutarch" says Mr. Dutens, 
" who knew almost all the shining truths of astronomy, took notice 
also of the reciprocal energy, which causes the planets to gravitate 
towards one another; and in explaining what it was that made 
bodies tend towards the earth, he attributes it to a reciprocal attrac- 
tion, whereby all terrestrial bodies have this tendency, and which collects 
into one the parts constituting the sun and moon, and retains them in 
their spheres. He afterwards applies these particular phenomena to 
others more general ; and from what happens in our globe, deduces, 
according to the same principle, whatever must thence happen respec- 
tively in each celestial body ; and then considers them in their rela- 
tive connexions one towards another. He illustrates this general 
relationship and connexion, by instancing what happens to our moon in 
its revolution round the earth, comparing it to a stone in a sling, which is 
impressed by two powers at once ; that of projection, which would carry 
it away, were it not retained by the embrace of the sling ; which like 
the central force, keeps it from wandering, whilst the combination 
of the two moves it in a circle." In another passage, quoted from 
Gregory by Mr. Dutens ;— " a musical string, says Pythagoras, yields 
the same tone with any other of twice its length, because the tension 
of the latter, or the force whereby it is extended, is quadruple to 
that of the former ; and the gravity of one planet, is quadruple to that 
of any other, which is at double the distance. In general, to bring a 
musical string into unison with one of the same kind, shorter than 
itself, its tension ought to be increased in proportion as the square 
of its length exceeds that of the other ; and that the gravity of any 
planet may become equal to that of any other nearer the sun, it ought 
to be increased in proportion as the square of its distance exceeds that of 
the other." Here are the Pythagorean foundations of their system. 
What a facetious application of the stone and sling, and the musical 
string, to the mighty motions of the universe ; what a farcical union 
of the ridiculous and sublime ! Certainly they were not the first, nor 
the last, experiments that have been played oft' upon human credulity. 
But that Christian philosophers, who, it is to be presumed, must have 
read the first chapter of Genesis, should have gravely taught these 
things, as important truths; and that Christian bishops should still 
countenance the delusion in the universi ties, is certainly wonderful : 
and the record cannot fail, when read by our posterity, to excite 
feelings of the most lively astonishment. 

L 



74 



centripetal and centrifugal forces. The motion of the 
finger, which communicates velocity to the ball, is com- 
pared to the power which they imagine drives the 
planets onward in their courses, or the centrifugal force ; 
the string represents the centripetal force, or the 
power of attraction in the sun, whereby the planets are 
bridled into a circular motion, and prevented from 
flying off in straight lines which would be tangents to 
their orbits. One might reasonably suppose, that a little 
sober reflection upon the immensity of creation, and the 
admirable regularity of the celestial motions, would have 
prevented even an uninstructed savage from taking up a 
comparison so excessively childish and ridiculous; such 
however might err, not knowing the power of God: but, 
that a christian philosopher, (after perusing the revealed 
account of creation, and the magnificent descriptions of 
the power of the Creator, which are contained in the 
same book,) should have founded his imaginary system 
of universal motion upon the silly conceit, is certainly an 
amazing circumstance! Yet such is the fact. It is 
asserted by his friend Dr. Pemberton and his own works 
verify the account.* It is upon this base that philoso- 

* "A stone," says Newton, u whirled about in a sling, endeavours 
to recede from the hand that turns it ; and by that endeavour, dis- 
tends the sling, and that with so much the greater force, as it is 
revolved with the greater velocity, and as soon as ever it is let go, 
flies away." Certainly it does: I once, in particular, when I was a 
boy, to my sorrow, had occasion to remark it; a stone from my own 
sling, by accident, nearly blinded an eye of one of my play-fellows. 
But let us see how the experiment has blinded the eyes of Newton's 
disciples. " That force which opposes itself to this endeavour, and 
by which the sling perpetually draws back the stone towards the hand, 
and retains it in its orbit, because it is directed to the hand as the 
centre of the orbit, 7" call the centripetal force. And the same thing 
is to be understood of all bodies, revolved in any orbits. They all 
endeavour to recede from the centre of their orbits ; and were it not 
for the opposition of a contrary force which restrains them to, and 



75 



phers have founded a system of ratiocination subversive 
of a belief in the necessity of the immediate and conti- 
nual superintendance of the Creator over his magnificent 
works. For, what else do they mean when they assert, 
that 66 Phcenomena are wanting* to determine whether 
attraction depends upon the immediate fiat of the 
Deity, — or on other intervening causes, — the latter is 
most probable }" And, that " the mere laws of gravity 
are sufficient to keep the system going when once put 
in motion." It is indeed asserted by this class of calcu- 
lators, that the power of gravity is absolutely necessary 
to preserve the universe from ruin. The celebrated 
Dr. Halley declares, that " the globes of the sun and 
planets cannot otherwise be destroyed, than by taking 
from them this Power of keeping their parts united/' 
Dr. Derham, with fanatical enthusiasm, exclaims, "What 
a noble contrivance this of gravity is for keeping the 
several globes of the universe from shattering to pieces, 
as they evidently must do in a little time by their swift 
rotation round their axes. The terraqueous globe 
particularly, which circumvolves at the rate of above 
one thousand miles an hour, would, by the centrifugal 
force of that motion, be soon dissipated and spirtled into 

detains them in their orbits, which I therefore call centripetal, would 
fly off in right lines, with an uniform motion." This experiment was 
worthy of Pythagoras, and equally so of his disciple Newton: I 
imagine I see these delighted philosophers in their studies, whirling 
the sling about their fingers! But the sublime application of it to 
the planetary motions,— was truly marvellous ! 

" Divinely eloquent his precepts roll, 
And warm while they convince the soul." 

# Not entirely so. He who heaped up the waters of the Red Sea; 
caused iron to swim; Peter to walk on the surface of the sea, and 
suspends the thick clouds; has sufficiently proved that attraction 
depends upon His fiat. 



76 



the circumambient space, was it not for this noble 
contrivance!" — " By what means/' (demands another 
devotee,) " are these vast bodies suspended in the 
immensity of space? What secret power retains them 
in their orbits and enables them to circulate with so 
much regularity and harmony? Gravity and attraction 
is the powerful agent, the universal principle of this 
equilibrium and of these motions/' 

Such, we are assured, are thy mighty works, O Gravity ! 
The organs of thy mysteries declare, that thou gatherest 
the atoms ; formest them into worlds; suspendest those 
worlds at rest, or whirlest them in rapid motion. Thou 
acceleratest and retardest them in their courses. Thy 
power goes forth through illimitable space; and wherever 
matter is, there thy mighty influence is felt. As by the 
presence of thy power all exist; so, by the absence of it, 
all shall perish; shall be burned or dashed in pieces by 
thy cometary missionaries, or finished by augmenting 
the solar fire ! 

This curious system of gravity; this noble contrivance, 
as they term it, is imposed upon the world under an 
assurance, that it is grounded upon infallible experiments 
and positive mathematical truths. It is thus laid down 
by Dr. Halley. 

" That the spaces described by the fall of a body are 
as the squares of the times from the beginning of the 
fall. 

" That all bodies on, or near the surface of the earth, 
in their fall, describe sixteen english feet, one inch, in 
the first second of time, and increase by a certain 
mathematical ratio. 

" This power of gravity increases as you descend and 
decreases as you ascend from the centre, and that in 
proportion to the squares of the distances therefrom, 



77 



reciprocally, so as at a double distance to have but a 
quarter of the force ; This property is the principle upon 
which Mr. Newton has made out all the phenomena of 
the celestial motions so easy and naturally, that its truth 
is past dispute" 

Such a conclusion, drawn from such premises, was 
quite worthy of the man who declared Christianity to be 
an imposition. Past dispute! Where is their evidence 
that falling bodies are accelerated according to the 
squares of the times \ or that the force of gravity increases 
as the squares of the distances ? It is a mere mathemati- 
cal figment, and, as such, can only be designed to entrap 
the understanding of the lazy and unwary. It is assum- 
ing the mathematical idea of Pythagoras as a certain 
truth; though it is evidently a mere inference deduced 
from the geometrical proposition, that the surfaces of 
spheres are as the squares of their radiuses. We are, 
however, assured that Mr. Huygens, the mathematician, 
demonstrated,* by the vibrations of a pendulum, that 
" all bodies on, or near the surface of the earth, in their 
fall, descend so as that at the end of the first second of 
time they have described sixteen feet, one inch, and ac- 
quired a velocity of thirty-two feet." I have examined 
the rule from which he makes this deduction, but I con- 
fess I am not able to discover any just comparison be- 
tween the motion of a vibrating pendulous body, and a 
body detached in the act of falling to the earth: the 
respective motions are so completely distinct, that I am 
well satisfied no geometrical reasoning can ascertain 
the velocity of the one from the motion of the other. 
But the theory supposes what is impossible; namely, 
that these experiments be performed in an unresisting 

* This word, though very properly applied by Euclid, is grossly 
prostituted by modern philosophers. 



78 



medium, such as Newton means by what he terms, the 
zetherial regions, which have never been proved to have 
an existence except in the heads of philosophers. It 
is a question that cannot be decided in a space so con- 
fined as the receiver of an air-pump, even if it could be 
completely exhausted of the air, which is impossible. 
Mathematicians, however, arrogate to themselves a 
right to judge and condemn the senses whenever they 
bear witness to the absurdity of their dogmas. It is 
their province, it seems, to tell us whether we are 
correct or not, in supposing we see a body in motion, 
or at rest. So we are likewise told by a great German 
professor, that it " peculiarly belongs to chemistry, to 
determine whether the sun be actually a burning body." 
I remember about forty years ago, that its heat, through 
a hole in my shirt, raised a blister upon my shoulder. 

The Divine Wisdom, (according to the son of Sirac,) 
ordained in the beginning, that " all things that are of 
the earth shall return to the earth again, and that which 
is of the water shall return into the sea:" not according 
to mathematical rules, but to that Divine appointment, 
which at the same period also gave circulation to the 
waters of the mighty ocean, and a perpetual motion to 
the magnificent system of the heavens. Weak in under- 
standing, and presumptuous in disposition, must that 
man be who pretends, by the miserable experiments of 
his air-pump and his pendulum, to estimate the forces 
of Divine creation! It is a sad misapplication of 
Geometry. 

The operation of that which gives weight to bodies, is 
evidently limited to the surface of the earth, or within 
a short distance of it. An illiterate miner once in- 
formed me, that it was commonly observed by the men 
with whom he laboured, that they could lift a greater 



79 



weight in the works below than upon the surface of the 
ground above. The same remark I find in Lord Bacon's 
Natural History. " It is," says he, c: affirmed con- 
stantly by many, as an usual experiment, that a lump of 
ore at the bottom of a mine will be tumbled and stirred 
by two men's strength, which if you bring it to the top 
of the earth will require six men's strength at the least 
to stir it; it is a noble instance and is fit to be tried to 
the full; for it is very probable that the motion of 
gravity worketh weakly, both far from the earth, and 
also within the earth, — the former because the apetite 
of union of dense bodies with the earth in respect of the 
distance is more dull, — the latter because the body hath 
in part attained its nature when it is some depth in the 
earth. For as for the moving to a point or place, which 
was the opinion of the ancients, it is a mere vanity J* 
The facility of moving heavy bodies in mines was like- 
wise noticed by the ancients in the pits whence they 
drew the sal-ammoniac in Egypt; but they erroneously 
supposed it to be owing to the buoyancy of subterrane- 
ous vapours. These accounts alone, if founded in fact, 
are I think decisive against the theory of gravity; for, 
according to that hypothesis, the difference of a few 
hundred, or of even a few thousand, yards of ascent, or 
descent, could produce no sensible alteration in the 
weights of bodies. 

It is only by an examination of the elementary dogmas 
of this theory, that the mind can be enabled to form a 
due estimate of the sophistical fabrick which these philo- 
sophers have reared. For, as a professedly experimental 
and mathematical system, the reasoning powers of the 
understanding, from a due consideration of its com- 
ponent parts, should trace the connexion by a just 
analogy; and so by rising to a general contemplation of 



80 

it, we may pronounce with certainty, that its foundation 
is without substance; its parts destitute of symmetry; 
and, considered as a whole, that it is, in reality, useless 
in practice. 

With regard to the affections of attraction in the 
celestial bodies, they assert, that "All bodies are mutu- 
ally heavy, or gravitate mutually towards each other; 
and this gravity is proportionate to the quantity of 
matter; and at unequal distances it is inversely as the 
square of the distance, and so the sun and planets mutu- 
ally gravitate towards each other/' To prove this pro- 
perty in matter; action and re-action; they hold, that 
" action and re-action are always equal and in contrary 
directions; if a stone be pressed by the finger, the finger is 
equally pressed by the stone. If a horse draws a stone the 
stone draws * the horse equally backward; for" (mark the 
ptroof!) " the rope is equally stretched towards both!!!" 
This is Newtonian reasoning! The horse draws the stone 
with a visible rope; ergo, the sun draws the planet, and 
the planet the sun, without any visible bond of connexion. 
But if the action and re-action of the planets be equal 
and in contrary directions, one of course neutralizes the 
other, and both are therefore useless and of no effect. This 
is their celebrated third law of motion : but in laying it 
down, they, by an unaccountable mistake, have omitted 
to draw a distinction between the inert matter of the 
stone and the principle of animal life which actuates 

* This is the vis inertia of Newton : that is to say, the force ofin- 
ertion; the force of inaction ; or, the force of no force! what a con- 
tradiction in the very terras ;— what an absurdity ! Is there any force 
unconnected with spirit? If any one says, yes; let him demonstrate 
it. Newton was undoubtedly hard pressed in the fabrication of this 
part of his system, when like a dexterous juggler, he played off this 
learned inanity, to amuse and draw off the attention of his followers 
from one of the weakest of his impositions upon their understand- 
ings. 



81 

the horse.* Suppose a man awake, lays hold of another 
man asleep and drags him about a room, the latter, ac- 
cording to the Newtonian reasoning, pulls equally with 
the former. I should reason thus : (though less philo- 
sophically,) the inanimate stone, suppose a statue, and 
the sleeping man are both passive; they do not draw at 
all; but awake the man, or, if you can, put Promethean 
fire into the statue, and then both will be capable of pul- 
ling in contrary directions. 

The Newtonians teach, that, the primary and secondary 
planets and comets, each acts upon all the rest and upon 
the sun itself; disturbing one another in their respective 
orbits; accelerating and retarding each other's motions 
according to their relative situations; by the same means, 
in a similar way, the planes of their respective orbits are 
changed, as well as their periodic times. What a curious 
piece of machinery is this for the consideration of a 
sober understanding! Oh, say they, "the inequalities 
and disorders produced in the system by these pertur- 
bations are for the most part corrected in a single revo- 
lution." By what occult corrector I pray? Whirling a 
ball round the finger, or their other experiment of tying 
a pebble to a millstone, is, in my view, very little to 
the purpose; such however are their experimental proofs 
of the matter. 

This doctrine of mutual attraction, had it any real 
existence, would be utterly subversive of the system; 
suppose, for example, Jupiter and Saturn to be posited 

*Sir Isaac Newton concludes the second Corollary of his first 
book of the Principia upon what he terras, the composition and reso- 
lution offerees, with these words; "from hence are easily deduced, 
the forces of machines, which are compounded of wheels, pullies, 
levers, cords and weights ascending directly or obliquely, and other 
mechanical powers; as also the forces, of the tendons to move the 
bones of animals!" No distinction between the force of spirit and 
his mechanical forces! 

M 



82 



in the same point of the heaven; I mean with respect 
to their heliocentric longitude; and that Jupiter, by the 
powerful attractive force ascribed to Saturn, is disturbed 
and drawn out of the orbit which he would otherwise 
describe, according to the doctrine of centripetal forces; 
how in such case would Jupiter regain his proper course? 
For, if the action of Saturn could attract him a single 
mile, that action would then be increased, and would 
continue io increase, according to the doctrine of philoso- 
phers, in the reciprocal duplicate proportion, while at 
the same time the power which should have retained 
Jupiter in his orbit decreases id the same proportion. 
If, I say, such attractions and affections really exist, the 
consequences would inevitably be as I have stated; but 
if no such effects have ever been perceived, then it proves, 
that the doctrine of action and re-action has no real 
existence, and that therefore it is of no use but to write 
about, in order to swell the sizes of books and to increase 
the number of them. Philosophers nevertheless perse- 
vere in teaching, that by mutual salutations and affec- 
tions the planets neither move in regular circles nor 
ellipses, but in a kind of zig-zag curves which are 
always concave towards the central body. 

The same system teaches, that the sun is not abso- 
lutely the centre of the planetary system, but that there 
is a point about 4 or 500,000 miles from the sun's cen- 
tre, that is to say in or near his surface, (these gentlemen 
are exceedingly nice in their calculations,) which is the 
common centre of gravity of the sun and planets ; about 
which they all perform their revolutions. This removal 
of the sun from the centre is said to be effected by the 
third law of motion, and was intended by Sir Isaac 
Newton to correct, or explain, certain inequalities which 
he imagined (for he never observed them,) to take place 



83 



in the planetary motions. The objections to this dogma 
are even stronger than those I have just stated respecting 
the mutual attractions of Jupiter and Saturn : For, the 
planes of all the planetary and cometary orbits differ in 
position : the motion of their nodes respectively ; their 
distances, magnitudes and periodic times are likewise all 
different from each other; and consequently these bodies 
would act upon the sun in a variety of contrary direc- 
tions, which would inevitably prevent a regularity in his 
motion about the common centre of gravity and destroy 
all harmony in the system. Besides, if their mutual 
gravities were sufficiently powerful to move the sun 
500,000 miles from the centre of the system, the force 
would then be greatly increased; (say in the reciprocal 
duplicate proportion,) and what security has Sir Isaac's 
system provided in such case against an accelerated ap- 
proach towards each other; particularly if all the planets 
should happen to be in or near the same degree of helio- 
centric longitude? What a wild incoherent scheme it is. 
Here are a number of immense globes of matter said to 
be powerfully attracting each other — one of which is de- 
clared to be 550 times greater than all the worlds which 
revolve about it; yet, wonderful to tell, they never ap- 
proach to a union, though they are said to move in spaces 
totally void of any obstacle to prevent their approach. 
But, what do I say? I am perhaps losing sight of the 
matter, that is, of their experiment. While two men, 
placed at each end of a rope, pull in opposite directions, 
their joint action, though one of them may be moved 
from his position, will inevitably prevent them from 
coming together: so that we are assured, from this expe- 
riment, that the universe is tolerably safe ! 

But candour requires that I should here give a 
specimen of their own reasoning upon the doctrine of 



84 



gravitation and projection, as laid down by an admired 
writer. 

" That the sun, and not the earth, is the centre of 
our Solar System, may be demonstrated beyond a possi- 
bility of doubt, from considering the forces of gravitation 
and projection, by which all the celestial bodies are 
retained in their orbits.'' 

These philosophers consider a thing as they would 
have it, and call it demonstration. Certainly a string 
fastened to a ball retains it in its circular motion about 
the finger; but before they professed to demonstrate, 
that the planets were similarly retained in their orbits, 
they should first have demonstrated the existence 
of a strict analogy between their experiment and the 
objects intended to be illustrated by it; — that however 
they have not done. Perhaps they considered the simi- 
larity too obvious to need a demonstration ! 

" For if the sun moves about the earth, the earth's 
attractive power must draw the sun towards it from the 
line of projection, so as to bend its motion into a curve; 
but the sun being at least 227,000 times as heavy as the 
earth, by being so much weightier as its quantity of 
matter is greater, it must move 227,000 times as slowly 
towards the earth as the earth does towards the sun, and 
consequently the earth would fall in a short time to the 
sun, if it had not a strong projectile motion to carry it 
off! The earth therefore, as well as every other planet 
in the system, must have a rectilineal impulse to prevent 
its falling into the sun!" 

But what proof has the world ever had, that the sun 
and earth are mutually drawn towards each other? Cer- 
tainly none; for, if they were, the sun would be seen to 
increase in size, and felt to increase in heat, of which 
mankind has had no experience whatever, out of the 



85 



usual course of the seasons 5 therefore it is most 
reasonable to conclude, that there is not the least 
mutual gravitation between these two bodies. And 
then as to the weight of the sun, I would say to any one 
of these curious philosophers, as the angel said to 
Esdras, ce Go thy way and weigh me the weight of the 
fire." Esdras answered, " What man is able to do 
that?" Newton has done it, his disciples exultingly 
exclaim; the immortal Newton has done it! If so, I 
suppose it would be extremely satisfactory to some 
doubting enquirers if, by way of experiment and demon- 
stration, they would place the flame of a candle in their 
balances, and tell us the weight of it. Let their sub- 
lime imaginations cease to carry their mathematical scales 
to the sun, until they have weighed the fire at home; 
for, until the weight of that be fairly ascertained, I am of 
opinion, that the most timid of their believers need not 
be under any serious apprehension of being precipitated, 
with the earth, into the flaming billows of the sun, by 
any defect or derangement of the rectilineal impulse! 

ce There is no such thing in nature as a heavy body 
moving round a light one as its centre of motion. A 
pebble fastened to a millstone by a string may, by an 
easy impulse, be made to circulate round a millstone; 
but no impulse can make a millstone circulate round a 
loose pebble." 

Is it not as easy, O philosophers, to make a millstone 
circulate round a loose pebble, as a pebble round a loose 
millstone, unless both are carried? Can you give a 
motion to either the one or the other, without the aid of 
manual or mechanical powers ? But there is no occasion 
to expend much labour in arguing upon the matter: for, 
though the comparison of the sun to a millstone be 
a Greek idea borrowed from Anaxagoras, I do not con- 



86 



sider the similarity to be remarkably exact; nor is the 
earth connected by a string to that luminary. But these 
matters, we are told, are too high for the contempla- 
tion of the vulgar : let us then proceed to others of 
more immediate gratification to them. 



THE TIDES. 

Philosophers inform us that " the only vulgar in- 
stance we have of the mutual gravitation of the celestial 
bodies," is the operation of the moon upon the tides; 
and that it was first discovered by Kepler: to prove 
which they quote a passage from his works. Kepler's 
account of the matter is however to be seen, nearly 
verbatim in Pliny's Natural History published about one « 
thousand five hundred years before. It was the opinion 
of both these philosophers, that the planets were animated 
bodies: and as between such there are undoubted attrac- 
tions, their belief was far more rational and consistent 
than the doctrine of the Newtonians. 

However, the latter assure us, that " the sun's influ- 
ence in raising the tides is but small in comparison of the 
■moon's; for though the earth's diameter bears a consider- 
able proportion to its distance from the moon, it is next 
to nothing when compared to its distance from the sun; 
and therefore, the moon must raise the tides much higher 
than they can be raised by the sun." 

It seems these philosophers, for convenience of argu- 
ment, do not hesitate to evade the judgment of their 
own laws, which lay down as infallible truths, that 
the sun and all the planets attract each the others in 
the exact proportion of their respective quantities of 
matter; and that the power of attraction decreases as 
the squares of the distances increase. Now, according to 
the creed of the disciples of Newton, the volume of the 



87 



sun is 64,000,000 times greater than that of the moon, 
and his distance from the earth is four hundred times 
greater. The square of four hundred is 160,000; there- 
fore the sun's attraction of the earth, supposing his 
mass to be equal to that of the moon, would be 160,000 
times weaker than the moon's attraction ; or, in other 
words, the mass of the sun, at the distance they place 
him, in order to possess on the surface of the earth an 
attraction equal to the moon's, ought to be 160,000 
times greater than the moon: but, according to Newton, 
the density of the sun to that of the moon, is as 4891 
to 1000: its mass of matter would in that case be to 
the mass of matter in ' the moon, as 13,085,259 to 1. 
But it is said that the distance of the sun is four 
hundred times greater than that of the moon : therefore 
the effect of the solar gravity on the tides compared 
with the lunar gravity would be as 13,085,259 to 
160,000; or as 82 to 1* We are, notwithstanding, 
very gravely told, that its effect in raising the tides is 
no more than a fourth or fifth of the moon's attraction. 
That is to say, about four hundred times less than it 
ought to be according to the unerring principles of 
gravity! But mark their further reasoning upon this 
point. " It is owing to the sun's immense size and 
distance, but the moon, because her distance in compa- 
rison to that of the sun from the earth, is very small, the 
forces with which she acts on different parts of the 
earth will vary more considerably from parallelism and 
equality." 

* Newton believed the sun to be a body of fire ,• but it is now 
become fashionable, amongst philosophers, to consider it a cold 
body of earth covered by a luminous atmosphere. Does not this 
remarkable change in opinions require a new system of gravity ? 
Can a body of earth be of the same density as a body of fire ? 
Impossible ! 



88 



This curious sophistry is, as I said, an evasion of their 
own boasted theory of gravity. It is a very important 
point and they cannot possibly get over it. The aspect, 
or angle of apparent magnitude, is very nearly the same 
in both luminaries; and the question here, is not concern- 
ing the effect of attraction upon a homogeneal body, but 
upon one composed of earth and water ; and however the 
earthy parts might, or might not, be affected, it is very 
certain that the light, moveable, watery parts, by being 
acted upon by a force eighty-two times greater than 
that of the moon, would inevitably communicate such 
an amazing agitation to the ocean as would quite absorb 
and render imperceptible the comparatively weak effect 
of the moon's attraction; and also render the ocean 
completely unfit for the purposes of navigation. But 
nothing of the kind is experienced, and consequently 
the whole theory of gravity is imaginary and false. 

But let us see how their theory will help them out in 
a more particular examination of the tides. If, as they 
state, the attraction of the moon, compared with that of 
the sun, varies considerably from parallelism and equa- 
lity on different parts of the earth, why are not the^Jides 
higher within the corresponding limits of her declina- 
tion north and south, than beyond those limits towards 
the poles ? The recorded observations of navigators prove 
that the reverse has generally been noticed. Let us then 
compare the elevation prescribed by the Newtonian 
theory with the facts of experience. 

Theory says, that " the force of the sun to move the* ; 
sea, is to the mean force of the moon to move the same, 
as 1 to 4,4815 — that the action of the sun changes the 
height of the sea two feet; and that of the moon about 
nine feet; making the mean agitation of both together, 
in the open ocean, about eleven feet; and this, it is added, 



89 



agrees pretty well with observations. O yes, pretty well 
with the observations of Newton and Halley in their 
studies; but not at all with the experienced observations 
of navigators. Cook's Voyages alone furnish facts quite 
sufficient to explode the hypothesis of lunar attraction. 

By the theory of mechanical motion philosophers very 
confidently asserted, that the existence of a southern con- 
tinent was absolutely necessary to preserve an equilibrium 
between the two hemispheres. " But," says the intro- 
duction to Cook's last voyage, "however plausible this 
theory may seem, at first sight, experience has abun- 
dantly detected its fallacy. In consequence of Capt. 
Cook's voyage now under consideration, we have a 
thorough knowledge of the state of the southern hemi- 
sphere, and can pronounce with certainty, that the equi- 
librium of the globe is effectually preserved, though the 
portion of the sea actually sailed through leaves no suf- 
ficient space for the corresponding mass of land which on 
speculative arguments'" (concerning the earth's motion,) 
" had been maintained to be necessary." So much for 
speculation when examined by experience. 

The great Pacific Ocean is, of all other parts of the 
globe, the most proper for examining the validity of 
Newton's theory of the tides; for, there the operation 
of the moon, supposing his hypothesis to be well 
grounded, would not be obstructed by head-lands, bays, 
gulfs, &c. In a space of many thousands of miles in 
every direction, there is nothing to interfere with the 
movements of this mighty ocean, excepting a few in- 
significant islands just rising here and there above 
the surface, which, comparatively, no more obstruct its 
motions than the nilometer does the overflowings of the 
river Nile. How then does theory agree with observa- 
tion there? Mr. Wales, the astronomer, who accompa- 

N 



90 



nied Cook, tells us: his words are; — " in these obser- 
vations some very curious and even unexpected circum- 
stances have offered themselves to our consideration. It 
will be sufficient to instance the exceedingly small height 
to which the tide rises in the middle of the great Pacific 
Ocean ; where it falls short two-thirds at least of what 
might have been expected from theory and calcu- 
lation."* 

Cook says that the tides at the Sandwich Islands are 
u so inconsiderable, that it is hardly possible at any 
time to tell whether they had high or low water; or 
whether the sea ebbed or flowed. At Van Diemen's 
Land he found the perpendicular rise to be eighteen 
inches; and it never appeared to have exceeded thirty 
inches. At the Friendly Isles, he observed it was only in 
the channels and a few places near the shore that the 
motion of the tide was perceivable; it rose from three to 
six feet, which was the most considerable elevation that he 
had met with in that ocean between the Tropics. At 
Otaheite it was proved that the tides never rose higher 
than fourteen inches at most; and that it was high water 
nearly at noon, as well at the quadratures as at the full 
and change of the moon.f 

* If Newton could have foreseen the discoveries of Cook, he no 
doubt could have better accommodated to them his " noble contri- 
vance" of gravity. His disciples and believers have been very 
plausibly taught to think, that the phenomena result from the phy- 
sical principles and laws of motion which he has laid down. But 
the fact was, that he, in all cases, accommodated his theory to the 
appearances. It seems remarkable, when Mr. Wales really disco- 
vered the fallacy of the Newtonian theory, as it is applied to 
explain the tides, (which philosophers assure us is the only vulgar 
instance we have of the mutual gravitation of the heavenly bodies,) 
that that discovery did not immediately lead him into an examina- 
tion of its principles. He was said to be an eminent mathematician ; 
and he must therefore have been well qualified for the task. 

f This sufficiently refutes the Newtonian assertion, that, " High 
water takes place about three hours after the moon passes the 



91 



These places are situated 



as follows. 
Lett* s. 



Long. E. 



Sandwich Islands 



O I 



o / 



- 21. 29 



200. 12 



Friendly Islands 21. 8 184. 15 

Otaheite 17. 29 210. 22 

Van Diemen's Land - 43. 21 147. 29 

Where then is the e( vulgar instance" of the mutual 
attraction of the celestial bodies ? In the great ocean, 
according to their theory, where it ought to exist, it is 
not to be found. The rise of a few inches there is 
clearly owing to the small islands obstructing the force 
of the currents. And these instances appear, in my 
judgment, quite sufficient to prove that the heights of 
the tides are universally proportionate to the forces of 
the currents, taking into consideration the forms and 
situations of the shores, bays, gulfs and mouths of 
the rivers. 

Philosophers have very properly been asked, why the 
Mediterranean and Baltic seas offer no confirmation, 
but, on the contrary, a refutation of their theory? Their 
answer is; " There are no tides in lakes, because they 
are generally so small that when the moon is vertical she 
attracts every part of them alike, and therefore by ren- 
dering all the water equally light no part of it can be 
raised higher than another. The Mediterranean and 
Baltic seas have very small elevations, because the 
inlets by which they communicate with the ocean are so 
narrow, that they cannot, in so short a time, receive 
or discharge enough to raise or sink their surfaces 
sensibly." 

meridian." In Liverpool, where I reside, it is high water generally 
about half an hour before the moon passes the meridian. At 
Plymouth, six hours after; Isle of Wight, nine hours after ; and at 
London fifteen hours after the moon has passed the meridian. The 
time differs every where. 



92 



The great ocean, as I have observed, does not confirm 
the Newtonian theory; nor is a verification of it to be 
found in the above-mentioned seas, because, forsooth, 
those seas and their inlets are too small ! The whole 
passage is a web of sophistry. For, if the verticity of 
the moon prevents tides, that cause cannot be applicable 
to the Baltic or the Mediterranean ; because she never 
was vertical to either of them. Whereas the Red Sea, 
which has a smaller surface to which the moon is every 
month vertical, has very high and rapid tides.* Nor 
can the narrowness of the inlets to the Mediterranean 
and Baltic account for their tides being nearly imper- 
ceptible; because the entrance to the Red Sea through 
the Straights of Babelmandel is likewise very narrow, 
and yet the tides, as I have stated, have considerable 
elevations. 

But we will now suppose for argument's sake, that 
the entrance into the Mediterranean were twenty times 
its present width; that circumstance would have no 
very sensible effect upon it, even supposing the moon 
to attract according to the theory. Because that sea 
being more than two thousand miles long, and the period 
of the influx being only six hours, a body of water 
could not flow in that space of time more than twenty 
or thirty miles, and of course it could scarcely enter 
before the reflux would bring it back again. But as a 
proof that the influence of the moon does not govern 
the motion of those waters, and consequently no others 
in the least, the current continually sets into the 

* So says Dr. Pocock in his book of travels; and the same is con- 
firmed by Mr. Bruce when upon that sea, near the Island of Dahalac, 
in latitude 15°. "The tide," says he, "now entered with an 
unusual force, and ran more like the Nile, or a torrent, or stream 
conducted to turn a mill, than the sea or the effects of a tide, driv- 
ing us in a manner truly tremendous." 



93 



straights of that sea in a direction exactly contrary to 
the moon's diurnal motion. 

I believe there is not a sea upon the face of the 
globe, if observed with attention, that would not furnish 
ample evidence of the fallacy of the Newtonian theory 
of tides. The Euripus, between the Black and Medi- 
terranean Seas, during certain days every moon, ebbs 
and flows seven to nine times in the twenty-four hours. 
At Tonkin, on the coast of China, there is only one flux 
and one reflux in twenty-four hours. The same is said 
to take place at Long Island on the coast of Scotland. 
Other varying instances might be adduced, if necessary, 
to demonstrate that Newton's generalising theory of the 
tides is entirely false, and therefore perfectly useless, 
excepting to authors and booksellers.* 

The closet philosophers of that school have, to be 
sure, abundance of curious reasons ready at hand, and 
no less curious experiments, for the purpose of duping 
the understandings of those who do not like the trouble 
of examining for themselves. Their master, Galileo, 
from whom they received their laws of motion, moved 
backwards and forwards a trough of water, and drew 
reasons out of it, to illustrate his Theory of the Tides 
and the Motion of the Earth. The Newtonians following 
his example, agitate water in a tub, in order to demon- 
strate the reason of two tides in one lunar revolution 

* Nothing has puzzled the philosophers more than the innu- 
merable contradictions produced in nature all over the globe, to 
their generalising theory of the tides. Conscious of it an eminent 
writer remarks, " If the earth were covered all over with the sea to 
a great depth, the tides would be regularly subservient to these laws." 
If it were so, the fallacy of their laws could not be detected; but as 
things really are, the elevation of the land above the water, affords 
the means, all over the globe, of exposing and condemning their 
theory as perfectly useless. Tide tables are constructed from 
observation, and from that alone! 



94 



about the earth ! Rather than appear to be at any loss 
how to account for an appearance, the imaginations of 
the Copernicans do not hesitate to invert the very order 
of nature. John Baptist Balianus, an astronomer of 
note, for the purpose of explaining certain monthly 
accelerations and retardations of the tides, insisted that 
the earth revolved round the moon \ That conceit, 
however, did not please the learned Dr. Wallace. 

If the agitations of the ocean were really produced by 
the moon's attraction, we should surely perceive some 
sensible proof of its influence upon watery clouds float- 
ing in the air; but we do not perceive any such effect; 
and it may easily be proved, even upon the principle of 
the Newtonian theory, that neither sea nor clouds could 
be visibly affected at the distance of the earth from the 
moon, supposing it to be 240,000 miles. Suppose, at 
the distance of a mile from the moon's surface, the force 
of attraction to be equal to that which presses the ocean 
here to its bed, then what would be its force at the 
distance of 240,000 miles from the moon? According 
to theory it diminishes, in proportion to the increase of 
the squares of the distances from the centre: suppose 
the moon's surface to be one thousand miles from her 
centre, the square of 240 is 57,600; therefore the attrac- 
tion of the moon, upon our seas and oceans, would bear 
the same proportion to the pressure of the water upon 
the earth as 1 to 5 7,600, and of course its effect could 
not be in the least perceptible. 

But it is most strenuously contended by the mathe- 
matical followers of the Keplerian hypothesis, that the 
agreement of the spring tides with the conjunction and 
opposition of the luminaries, is a decisive proof of the 
moon's attraction. Does it then naturally follow, 
because two bodies move in concert, that they must 



95 



therefore necessarily attract each other? Just prin- 
ciples of reasoning do not require that conclusion. God 
has providentially appointed to many parts of the habit- 
able globe an extraordinary flux of the ocean for several 
days every fortnight ; and the moon, by an exact coinci- 
dence of motion, serves as a perpetual index to the 
tides, whereby mathematicians are enabled, for the 
benefit of navigation, to calculate, beforehand, the 
periodical courses and returns of the tides, which other- 
wise could not be done. As to calculating tide-tables, 
upon what are termed Newtonian principles, it is all a 
farce, and something worse, to pretend to it. The late 
worthy and ingenious Mr. Wm. Hutchinson, of Liver- 
pool, rendered a more important service to navigation, 
by noting the heights of the tides during the course of 
at least a whole lunar period, than ever was rendered by 
all the most curious theories put together. 

The Almighty Creator has ordered the diversity of 
the tides, according to his own infinite wisdom, as most 
suitable to each particular part of the globe; whether 
for preserving sweetness in the ocean by circulation, or 
as ministering to the convenience of navigation. His 
divine ceconomy produces an endless variety: but the 
weak, narrow, generalising theories of men, if put in 
practice, would most certainly ruin every thing. The 
very unevennesses on the surface of the globe, such as 
mountains and the beds of rivers, seas and oceans, as 
well as the movements of the water, must have been 
formed and appointed with wise design, by the express 
power and appointment of God. For, if they were left 
to the general operation of what the Newtonians term 
their mechanical philosophy, it may easily be conceived 
what fatal effects would necessarily result from such a 
fortuitous confusion of things ! God has appointed to 



96 



all things their orderly limits; and this divine philosophy 
is emphatically intimated in the passage where it is 
demanded of Job, te Who shut up the sea with doors 
when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the 
womb; when I made the cloud the garment thereof and 
thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and brake up for 
it my decreed place, and set bars and doors; and said, 

HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER; AND 
HERE SHALL THY PROUD WAVES BE STAYED !" 



IMAGINARY DECAYS OF THE UNIVERSE. 

Sir Isaac Newton considered the universe as a machine 
which gets worse for wear, and which, in his opinion, 
will in time be unfit for the purposes for which it was 
designed. " The inequalities of the planetary motions," 
said he, " must constantly increase, by slow degrees, till 
they render the present frame of nature unfit for the 
purposes it now serves."* It is however but fair to notice, 
that a celebrated astronomer of the present day, who 
some suppose to have been raised up to put a finishing 
hand to such parts of the system as Newton left incom- 
plete, has, in some measure, made provision, for these 
imaginary decays and derangements of the universe, by 
his doctrine of destruction and re-production; for, he 
is of opinion, that the nebidce or clusters of stars, which 
are seen in various parts of the heaven, are the labora- 
tories of the universe; in which old crazy suns and 
systems are repaired or formed anew. " We ought," 
says he, " perhaps to look upon such clusters, and the 
destruction of a star" (sun) "now and then in some 

* I have an old wooden clock with a Iarum, which formerly served 
to awake me at any hour I wished to rise in the mornings; but I 
find it now gets worse for wear, and I really think its increasing 
irregularities are such as will shortly render it unfit for use! 



97 



thousands of ages, as the very means by which the whole 
is preserved and renewed. These clusters may be the 
laboratories of the universe, wherein the most salutary 
remedies for the decays of the whole are prepared. The 
stars forming these extraordinary nebulae, by some decay 
or waste of nature,\ being no longer fit for their former 
purposes, and having their projectile forces, if any such 
they had, retarded in each other's atmosphere, may rush 
at last together; and either in succession, or by one 
general tremendous shock, unite into a new body." Here 
is a new sun, a mighty sun, supposed to be formed 
from a number of decayed ones: we may add, alas! 
what would become of all the worlds, with all their 
inhabitants, which we are told revolve about and are 
enlightened by these suns? They must of course rush 
along with the ol^l suns, (their centres,) and serve as 
fuel to light up the new one! But here another curious 
question very naturally occurs: by what mechanical or 
chemical process, in these wonderful laboratories, are 
new worlds, and new people on them, formed to revolve 
about this new sun? Is it, as Newton believed, by 
sediments of light forming themselves? It is a question 
sufficiently important to engage and exercise the pro- 
found sagacity of philosophers; and the complete solu- 
tion of it would, I think, give full employment to all 
the Powers and subtile Spirits of Newton. Another 
philosopher has possitively assured us, that these 
tremendous operations have absolutely commenced in 
the stupendous laboratories of the universe. 

* " Decay or waste of nature," might with some propriety be 
applied to animated bodies ; but as we perceive nothing of the kind, 
in sun, moon, or earth, which come more immediately under our 
examination, we may of course estimate this notable supposition in 
proportion to its value j which according to Mr. Burchell's emphatic 
term, amounts to— fudge! 

o 



98 



Mr. Good, in a note, page 362, of the first volume of 
his translation of De Rerum Natura, (where he is com- 
menting on a passage from Origen, who imagined that 
all things in nature were in a state of decay; becoming 
more and more scarce, and getting worse and worse;) 
asserts, that " Suns and whole jrtanetary systems, have 
already disappeared from their stations in the horizon, 
dissolved, perhaps, to primitive non-entity; or resorbed 
in the material and central mass of universal nature, from 
which they were first projected, and new creations have 
been discovered in their stead. What is there then in the 
system of the earth itself, to enable it to resist the 
common fate? upon every analogy of reasoning, it also 
must eventually yield, and it is probably decaying at the 
present moment." To attempt to reason upon this won- 
derful passage, or to ask for information concerning 
these stupendous events, would be time lost: as Mr. Good 
appears from his writings to be a worthy, diligent and 
accomplished man, I am sorry to find such sentiments in 
the same note, along with his judicious comments on 
the wild theories of Mr. Godwin and M. Condorcet. 

With regard to these perturbations, irregularities, 
derangements and destructions, which, as we have been 
taught, are the inevitable effects of the mutual and 
universal attractions of the celestial bodies; it is consol- 
ing to observe, that a few writers who have recently 
treated upon the subject, begin to perceive the absurd 
conclusions which necessarily flow from the doctrine; a 
philosopher, whom I have already quoted, asserts, that 
" Mr. De la Grange has demonstrated that no such dis- 
order will ever happen. That the greatest deviation 
from the most regular motions will be almost insensible, 
and that they are all periodical; waxing to nothing, and 
again rising to their small maximums. He shews also 



99 



that the greatest perturbations are so moderate, that 
none but an astronomer," (Oh no, none but an astro- 
nomer !) " will observe any difference between this per- 
turbed state and the mean state of the system. The 

mean distances and the mean periods remain for ever the 
same"* 

Assuredly, O wise philosophers, you must all be 
brought to acknowledge that, however opposite to the 
profound results of your master's sagacious and elaborate 
investigations of the perturbations of gravity! "In 
short," says the same writer, " the whole assemblage 
(of worlds,) " will continue almost to eternity in a state 
fit for its present purposes, and not distinguishable from 
its present state, except by the prying eyes of an astro- 
nomer" If the world continue fit for its present pur- 
poses almost to eternity, its inhabitants will care very 
little about the curious perturbations which their prying 
eyes have discovered. They, with astonishing gravity, 
lately told us, that they had discovered that the moon's 
acceleration is about eleven seconds in a centuryjf that 
is to say, gentle reader, at the rate of about one degree in 
20,000 years ! No great danger of detection upon that 
point. 

* Notwithstanding- this opinion, they, a few years ago, revived 
the subject in France, and even proposed a prize of the value of 
<£250 for a theory of perturbations. The money would be well laid 
out; it is an alarming subject, and the publick ought to be 
informed of the fate that awaits them. 

f "Consequently other planets, and among them the earth, must 
have a similar acceleration. If the motion of the earth be accele- 
rated, it must be owing to its approaching the centre of motion; 
and, if it do, will it not ultimately fall into the sun ? The danger of 
this, indeed, must be infinitely remote, for the acceleration is 
extremely slow." (Why not infinitely sloiv ?)— French Institute, 1809. 



100 



CHAPTER V. 

ON COMETS NEWTONIAN DOCTRINES CONCERNING 
THEIR INCONCEIVABLE VELOCITIES, HEAT, PERIODI- 
CAL APPEARANCES AND HORRIBLE CONSEQUENCES;— 
ONE OF THEM *SO DERANGED BY GRAVITY THAT EVEN 
ASTRONOMERS DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS BECOME OF 
IT ; — ALARMING AND CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF 
PHILOSOPHERS ;— THE VULGAR OPINION UNIFORM AND 
RATIONAL. 



Another confirmation of the fallacy of the theory of 
gravitation, is to be found in the result of its application 
to account for the cometary motions. In the early part 
of the last century, when the system' became pretty 
generally received, several of those mathematicians who 
had adopted it, examined such accounts of the appear- 
ances of comets as history had recorded; and in a 
catalogue of several hundreds a few seemed to have 
appeared at nearly equal periods one from the other, un- 
der somewhat similar circumstances. This pretended 
coincidence was with avidity laid hold of by Halley, and 
considered as a confirmation of certain ancient opinions, 
(particularly that of Pythagoras the Greek, and Seneca 
the Roman philosopher,) that comets were lasting 
bodies, as the planets, having regular uniform periods: 
and, from their apparently near approach to the sun, 
Sir Isaac Newton, very consistently, incorporated them 
with his own system, and asserted that they performed 
their revolutions about the sun by centrifugal and cen- 



101 



tripetal forces. He accommodated them with elliptic, 
parabolic, or hyperbolic orbits, according to the length 
of time they were visible, and the apparent angular 
velocity of their motions. It being received as an 
undoubted mathematical truth, that the distance of 
the sun from the earth is 95,000,000 of miles, the sup- 
porters of this system are obliged to measure the magni- 
tudes, distances, and velocities of the other bodies 
belonging to it, by that enormous scale. Newton 
accordingly ascribed to the comet of 1680, a velocity of 
880,000 miles an hour ! Extravagant however as that is, 
it comes far short of the account given by Mr. Brydone 
of a comet seen by him, when at Palermo, in the year 
17 70; according to his computation that comet moved 
at the rate of 2,500.000 miles an hour, or 700 miles in a 
second of time; which is 5,200 times quicker than a 
cannon-ball; — the motion of lightning is nothing to be 
compared to it! Since the generality of Europeans 
believe these wonders issuing from Newton and his 
followers, as confidently as the people in the East 
believe the communications promulgated by the Grand 
Lama of Thibet and his priests, it is by no means sur- 
prising that the former, while exulting over the revela- 
tions of Newton, look down with contempt upon the 
simple philosophy and limited mathematics of the 
ancients, while they exclaim with equal falsehood and 
presumption, 

" On facts not fiction rests his fame 
Who spann'd the arch of heaven's eternal frame." 
The forms assigned by Newton to the cometary 
orbits, are quite incompatible with any known laws of 
motion and attraction on the earth. He says-the sun's 
action upon bodies diminishes, and that consequently 
their gravities are less, in proportion as they recede from 



102 



him; or, in other words, the matter contained in that 
body which revolves in the orbit nearest to him, is more 
powerfully attracted, and therefore heavier, than bodies 
performing their revolutions in orbits more distant from 
him. In conformity with this reasoning he asserts, that 
on a comet's approach to the sun, its motion is accele- 
rated; and that when it recedes from that luminary, its 
motion is in a similar degree retarded, that is, in the 
reciprocal duplicate proportion. If we calculate by 
this rule and admit, as Sir Isaac asserted, that the 
comet of 1680, when in its perihelion, or nearest approach 
to the sun, was within 150,000 miles of him, namely, 
a sixth part of his diameter; and that in its aphelion, 
or that end of its orbit most distant from the sun, it 
was not less than 11,200,000,000 of miles, we shall 
find that the sun's attractive power upon it is above 
5,500,000,000 times greater in the former than in the 
latter situation. By what miraculous law of motion 
then could the comet, being so powerfully acted upon, 
quit the neighbourhood of the sun ? How could it pos- 
sibly escape the Newtonian hell and continue its course? 
These philosophers may assert, that it is effected by 
some miraculous impulse from the centre of gravity! 
They may, with their usual confidence, refer us to their 
favourite experiment of their finger, string and ball; and 
so demonstrate, that the ball flies round with a velocity 
equal to the impulse of the finger: but this, though the 
boasted foundation of their system, and illustrated by 
the fluxional calculus, will not, I hope, much longer 
entrap the faith of men of sense, when they come to 
reflect upon those admirable and harmonious motions of 
the heavenly bodies, designed by infinite Wisdom for the 
use of man. 



103 



From an opinion held by certain heathen philosophers, 
Dr. Halley was induced to compare a number of these 
appearances, in order to find out whether they were 
regular and periodical in their visits; he accordingly 
ventured to predict the return of two; that one would 
re-appear in the year 1758 after a period of seventy-six 
years : and it is rather a curious circumstance, that " when 
the attention of astronomers" (as one of them mentions) 
" was called to this subject by the expectation of the 
return of the comet of 1759? no less than seven were 
observed in the course of so many years." I believe how- 
ever, that none besides astronomers saw that number: 
however, one of these real, or pretended comets, was 
selected, for the honor of Dr. Halley and the system, and 
declared to be the identical comet foretold by him ! Its 
appearance in 1759? instead of 1757? or 1758, as predic- 
ted, was explained in the same manner in which the 
Newtonians account for other differences which occa- 
sionally occur between the celestial motions and their 
own calculations : namely, by the attraction of the supe- 
rior planets, which, they say, may disturb the comets on 
their way, draw them out of their courses, and thereby 
cause them to be several months longer upon their jour- 
neys than might have happened when describing former 
revolutions; and in some cases absolutely prevent their 
return ! 

There are some curious particulars connected with the 
history of the comet of 1759 which I shall notice. Dr. 
Halley, in his " Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets," 
appears to have expended immense labour upon the sub- 
ject. He constructed tables which he states were the 
results of a prodigious deal of calculation. Upon one of 
which tables in particular, he says he spared "no labour, 
that it might come forth perfect, as a thing consecrated to 



104 



posterity, and to last as long as the science of astronomy 
itself!" He tells us that he spent many years in specu- 
lating upon parabolic and elliptical cometary orbits, and, 
like all other speculators, his views were extremely ardent 
and sanguine. Whether his tables will last as long as 
the science of astronomy itself I will not say; but 1 can 
positively assert, that one hundred years have elapsed 
since the construction of them, and hitherto they have 
not been of the least use. He examined from history 
the particulars connected with the appearances of the 
comets of 1531, 1607 and 1682, and he laboured hard to 
invent the figure of an orbit that would fit the three 
appearances ; but, as he was not able to do it, he laid the 
fault upon the actual observers and their defective instru- 
ments, and insisted, that his imaginary orbit, and his 
calculations upon it, ought to be taken in preference to 
what the observers of those comets really saw. He was 
extremely anxious that the system of gravity should be 
confirmed by the fulfilment of his prediction that a comet 
would appear in, or about, the year 1758; and that it 
should be received as the same comet that he supposed 
had appeared in the years 1531, 1607 and 1682 as before 
mentioned : te Wherefore," said he " if, according to 
what we have already said, it should return again about 
the year 1758, candid posterity will not refuse to acknow- 
ledge that this was first discovered by an Englishman." 
As the statement of La Place is rather curious, and will 
give us some insight into the management of this comet, 
I will copy it out for the satisfaction of the true believ- 
ers. "It is true," says he, "that the period of the first 
revolution is thirteen months longer than the second. But 
this great astronomer (Halley) thought, with good reason, 
that the attraction of the planets, particularly of Jupiter 
and Saturn, might have occasioned this difference, and 



105 



after a vague estimate of this action for the course of 
the following period, he judged that it would retard the 
return of the comet, and he fixed it at the end of 1758, 
or the commencement of 1759." Halley, as well as 
La Place, it seems, well knew the value of the attrac- 
tions of Jupiter and Saturn in occasionally helping them 
out in their erroneous calculations, as will be shewn here- 
after. " Having," says the former, " touched upon these 
things, I shall leave them to be discussed by the care of 
posterity, after the truth is found out by the event." La 
Place then proceeds. S J This prediction was too impor- 
tant in itself, and too intimately connected with the theory 
of universal gravitation, not to excite the curiosity of all 
those who were interested in the progress of the sciences ;" 
(meaning gravitation,) ee for about this time geometricians 
were very much engaged in extending the application of 
the theory. During the whole year of 1757? astrono- 
mers looked for this comet;" (yes, and during the whole 
qfl758) "and Clairault, who had been one of the first 
to solve the problem of the three bodies, applied his 
solution to the determination of the inequalities which the 
comet had sustained by the action of Jupiter and Saturn;" 
(This was what Halley had desired.) The 14th No- 
vember, 1758, he announced in the Acamedy of Sciences, 
that the interval of the return of the comet to its perihe- 
lion, would be six hundred and eighteen days longer in the 
present actual period than in the former one, and that 
consequently the comet would pass its perihelion about 
the middle of April, 1759." The theory, then, required 
that this comet should appear about that time. But to . 
whom did it appear? Why, truly, we are told, by La 
Place, that Clairault " had the satisfaction of seeing his 
prediction accomplished on the 12th March, 1759." On 
looking into the philosophical transactions of that year, 

p 



106 

I find it stated that two mathematicians, a Mr. Munekley 
of Lincoln's Inn, and a Mr. Bevis, saw a comet on the 
30th April in that year, and on two or three evenings 
afterwards, near the horizon in the south : one of the 
accounts is not quite clear as to whether it had a tail or 
not; it states, that it appeared to him to be rather sur- 
rounded with a circidar haziness than a tail. The 
other saw a tail on the 1st May, but not afterwards ; 
though La Place says, that the same comet in the year 
1456 had a long tail which spread consternation over all 
Europe! The commencement of Mr. Bevis's letter is 
rather curious ; he says, " I had acquainted some of my 
friends, that it was my opinion a comet would hardly 
arise above our horizon of London, Sunday, April the 
29ih; but that probably we might see one.on April 30th." 
Wonderful to tell, he says he accordingly did see one on 
Monday ! Who, or ivhat, could have put him in the pos- 
session of the secret? The first time both these gen- 
tlemen saw it, was on the same evening ; and the comet 
having answered the important purpose of fulfilling the 
predictions of Halley, Clairault and Bevis, it quickly 
retired, without, I believe, ever having once been seen by 
the people of either England or France. If the fact 
were otherwise, I shall be glad to be informed. 

We are gravely told by professor Robison, that % 
ie a comet observed in 1770, by Lexel Prosperin, and 
other accurate astronomers, has been so much deranged 
in its motion that its orbit has been totally changed ! Its 
mean distance, period, and perihelion distance, calcula- 
ted from good observations, which had been continued 
during three months, agreed with all the observations 
within one minute of a degree! In its aphelion it is a 
small matter more remote than Jupiter, and must have 
been so near him in 1767? tnat * ts gravitation to Jupiter 



107 



must have been" (how strong is the faith in gravitation!) 
"thrice as great as that to the sun." (No, no; not if 
your gravity is as the quantities of matter operating ac- 
cording to the squares of the distances,) " moreover in 
its revolution following this appearance in 1770, namely 
on the 23d of August, 1777? it must have come vastly 
nearer to Jupiter, and its gravitation to Jupiter must have 
exceeded its gravitation to the sun, more than two hun- 
dred times. No wonder then that it has been diverted 
into quite a different path, and that astronomers cannot 
tell what is become of it. And this by the way suggests 
some very singular and momentous reflections 

No doubt, serious reader, such passages as this, com- 
ing from one of the principals of a college, are calculated 
to suggest very " momentous reflections." And the first 
that occurs to me is this : are men who can coolly ima- 
gine, and' then deliberately publish such absurd notions, 
fit to be entrusted with the education of youth? These 
philosophers first imagine that worlds form themselves 
out of atoms and vapour from the sun$ then that 
they take fire and become comets, which are ulti- 
mately destined to recruit the decaying solar fire! But 
here is a cometary world so deranged, by the invisible 
influence of gravity, that it has left its natural course, 
and even astronomers do not know what is become of il 1 
If appearances do not confirm their curious computations, 
there is, forsooth, some failure in the order of the celes- 
tial motions; their computations must by no means be 
called in question. There is however one question which 
at this moment seems very naturally to arise out of the 
subject before us. Are the comets deranged, or the phi- 
losophers who teach such things ? 

There was another comet, which, after a period of one 
hundred and twenty-nine years, Dr. Halley believed 



108 



would appear in 1790. The astronomers were accordingly 
extremely sanguine in their expectations, and for a con- 
siderable time kept a diligent watch to hail and announce 
its return; but it was time and labour lost; no comet 
appeared. The disappointment, however, did not in the 
least shake their faith in the records of Halley; for they 
concluded, that " its non-appearance might be owing to 
the unfavourable situation of the earth." Ah, unfortu- 
nate philosophers! What pity that the earth stood in 
their light ! 

I shall now add the opinions of a few of our distin- 
guished philosophers upon the nature and effects of 
comets; by which it will perhaps appear to some readers, 
that, as they in general disagree, they may all be wrong; 
and that after all that has been said by the learned in 
contempt of those whom they term the vulgar, it is very 
possible that the impressions of the vulgar may be found 
at last to be tolerably correct. 

In the same manner that Sir Isaac Newton mathema- 
tically proved the relative forces of attraction, he con- 
tended that the comet of 1 680 was heated by the sun 
two thousand times hotter than red hot iron! Some 
of his followers of the present day it seems disagree in 
opinion with him on that point; owing, probably, to 
the difficulty of even imagining such an excessive degree 
of heat, or to the still greater difficulty of conceiving the 
existence of any kind of matter, even gold, capable of 
supporting it for a moment. However that may be, 
they have run into another extreme. They are not con- 
tent to suppose that the comets travel about the vast 
orbits ascribed to them, without inhabitants: and as they 
cannot conceive that human beings can exist on a body 
in such a dreadful state of ignition, as Sir Isaac professed 
to demonstrate; they, in their own way endeavour to 



109 



demonstrate, in the first place, that the sun itself is per- 
fectly cool, and then, as a natural consequence, that the 
comets are equally so. They insist that heat does not 
proceed with the rays of light from the sun, but that a 
certain sensation of what is vulgarly termed heat, is 
caused by a peculiar operation of the rays on the surface 
of bodies !* 

This curious notion they seem to have picked up 
amongst the ancient dogmas of Democritus, Sextus 
Empericus and others. Doctor Dutens, while comment- 
ing upon the knowledge of the ancients, adopted some 
of their sophisms. Amongst other things he asserts, that 
(e there is nothing more certain than that the light we see 
as it were in the sun, belongs not to that planet, but is an 
idea raised by it in our minds." The senses of sight and 
feeling are certainly opposed to this curious notion; so 
likewise is the first chapter of Genesis; for it is there 
expressly recorded, that the great light, the sun, was 
created several days anterior to the creation of man, and 
therefore really and truly existed, and continues to exist, 
independently of man's ideas or perception. " All the 
light of every day comes from the sun." Eccl. xxxiii. 7- 

Cornets, in all periods of their appearance, and in every 
country, both civilized and barbarous, have awakened 
the apprehensions and excited the admiration of the 
nations; and philosophers, who generally appear anxious 
to solve every difficulty, and explain every unusual ap- 
pearance, have occasionally published speculations upon 
their nature and uses. Ricciolus, an eminent astro- 
nomer of the seventeenth century, seems however to 

* La Lande, the celebrated French astronomer, sticks to the old 
opinion. He expresses his belief that the sun is an ocean of fire ; 
and at the same time observes, that Dr. Herschell, who maintains the 
contrary opinion, is more to be admired for his observations than 
bis hypothesis. 



110 



have had more candour than the more modern specu- 
lators in that science; he considered comets as " Splendid 
aenigmas proposed by God, but never to be resolved by 
man/' His opinion has been sufficiently verified by 
the wild, extravagant, and contradictory doctrines, of 
modern philosophers. 

History mentions, that certain philosophers, who lived 
before Aristotle's time, held that comets were lasting 
bodies, somewhat of the nature of planets; he however 
rejected that opinion, and described them as a sort of 
meteors elevated to the upper region of the air, where he 
supposed them to blaze until the matter of which they 
were composed was consumed. This idea Aristotle 
probably had from the learned Jew mentioned by his 
disciple Clearchus. Others, as Appian, Tycho and 
Kepler, imagined the head of a comet to be of a trans- 
parent nature, through which the solar rays penetrate 
and form what is called the tail: while another class 
represents them to be mere reflections or refractions of 
the solar light. Towards the latter end of the seventeenth 
century mathematics were applied to them, in order to 
increase the value of opinions; and Sir Isaac Newton's 
newly contrived method, combined with his fanciful 
orbits, raised them in the opinion of his followers, to a 
distinguished rank amongst the heavenly bodies. From 
Flamsted's observations on the comet of 1680, Newton 
and Euler pretended to calculate its periodical revolu- 
tion. The former determined it to be five hundred and 
seventy-five years; but the latter, only one hundred and 
seventy : both, notwithstanding, calculated from exactly 
the same data ! But even those data Mr. Cassini, and 
other astronomers of that time, declared to be erro- 
neous; for, the two appearances, which Newton and his 
adherents pretended to be the approach to, and recession 



Ill 



from, the sun of one and the same comet, the other party 
contended, upon the ground of their own observations, 
were two distinct and very different comets; which 
opinion seems, in some degree, to be supported by the 
observations made by Dr. Hook with his telescope, 
though he sided with the English philosophers. Newton 
stood high in the estimation of his disciples, who be- 
lieved he was able, by his superior sagacity, to ascertain 
better than all other men, the nature of a comet; for, 
according to their elevated metaphors, 

6i Sublime the burning galaxy he trod!" 
Therefore, in this dispute, the stronger party of the New- 
tonians prevailed over the weaker party of their oppo- 
nents, as they did in the celebrated contest concerning 
the distorted figure they ascribed to the earth. The 
world is not always satisfied with naked facts: therefore 
Newton dressed up his theory with his mathematical 
logic, magisterial method, and swelling sublimities ; it 
accordingly had the desired effect and bore down all 
opposition. His disciples could not contemplate with- 
out admiration and amazement the idea of that comet 
flying closely past the sun with a velocity, as their master 
assured them, equal to one thousand eight hundred times 
that of a cannon ball, and receiving in its progress a 
heat, as was before observed, two thousand times greater 
than red-hot iron. — The enquiry, as to what kind of 
matter could bear a heat so intense, does not seem to 
have occurred to them : they were quite satisfied with 
his demonstrating that it would require fifty thousand 
years to cool! When it was further considered, that the 
same comet must have had the same degree of heat nine 
times repeated since the creation, and that, according to 
the great Dr. Hook, the flaming fire in its tail moved 
many thousand times quicker than lightning! — it was by 



112 



no means astonishing that serious men, such as Derham 
and Whiston, after having swallowed and digested the 
marvellous tale, should endeavour to propagate a belief 
that comets were the infernal regions ! 

Philosophers ridicule the simple impressions of the 
artless multitude, who are in the habit of contemplating 
comets, comparatively, as messengers sent by the Govern- 
or of the World to call mankind to reflection; or to hold 
up to the nations signs of approaching chastisement for 
their crimes ! And where is the great impropriety or 
blameable weakness of this? History records many 
instances of cometary appearances immediately preced- 
ing extraordinary changes in the fortunes of distin- 
guished individuals, or the revolutions of nations and 
powerful empires. Even the remarkable one that 
appeared about eleven years ago, and the mighty and 
stupendous events which immediately followed, cannot, 
I believe, have failed to confirm this view of them, as 
the most rational, in minds perhaps not greatly inferior, 
either in liberality of sentiment or enlargement of 
understanding, to those who are steeped in the mysteries 
of gravitation. But what grounds have the Newtonians 
for their doctrines; do facts or experience confirm them? 
If it be fanaticism to believe and to teach without the evi- 
dence of either the one or tlte other, the imputation of 
fanaticism clearly attaches to the Newtonian philosophers. 
They assiduously labour to impress a belief that the tail 
of a comet produced the universal deluge; struck the 
earth on its rapid passage; gave it a rotatory motion on 
its axis, and an oblique position in reference to the plane 
of its orbit, which have ever since continued: that is to 
say, we were whipped into a spinning condition, just as a 
boy lashes his top! The same writer argues on the 



113 



probability that a comet on its return from the sun will 
ultimately burn us all up! 

While contemplating on the sad effects that might be 
produced by this comet on the planets, the imagination 
of Dr. Halley became so intensely heated, that he 
actually conceived and wrote a prayer against it; which 
was this, ce But may the great good God avert a shock 
or contact of such great bodies moving with such forces, 
(which however is manifestly by no means impossible,) 
lest this most beautiful order of things be entirely 
destroyed and reduced into its ancient chaos ! but this 
by the by." That was going up like a rocket, and 
coming down like a stick! It is too important to pass 
over, by the by. 

La Place says, " It is easy to represent the effects of 
such a shock upon the earth: the axis and motion of 
rotation changed, the waters abandoning their ancient 
position to precipitate themselves towards the new 
equator; the greater part of men and animals drowned 
in a universal deluge," (would not the whole in such case 
be drowned?) " or destroyed by the violence of the 
shock given to the terrestrial globe; whole species 
destroyed; all the monuments of human industry 
reversed : such are the disasters which the shock of a 
comet would produce." Here the philosophers are 
alarming the world with the possibility of a catastrophe, 
which God himself has solemnly declared shall never 
again take place. " I will establish my covenant with 
you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the 
waters of a flood: neither shall there any more be a 
flood to destroy the earth." Genesis, chap. ix. 

Philosophers may hold in contempt the honest pre- 
sages of the " vulgar;" but what are the fears of the 
vulgar in comparison of those excited by the terror- 

Q 



114 



striking doctrines of the modern philosophers? The 
impressions of alarm were so strong upon the minds of 
many who anticipated the destruction of the worlds by 
one of the comets which Dr. Halley pretended to foretel, 
that some well-meaning clergyman humanely preached 
and published a discourse under the title of " The Folly 
and Danger of Enthusiasm, in a Discourse on the 
jiretended Conflagration by the Comet which is to appear 
in 1758." Well, notwithstanding these dreadful philo- 
sophical predictions so greatly terrified the nations, the 
civil powers never once thought of confining the pre- 
sumptuous authors of them ; though in the very same 
age they imprisoned^ drove out, or persecuted to death, 
many who were divinely commissioned to foretel national 
punishments for blasphemy, crimes, and tyrannical 
cruelty to mankind. 

La Place, in the passage following the one above 
quoted, endeavours to comfort his dupes with the 
assurance, that " whatever may be the cause assigned 
by philosophers to these phenomena, we may be per- 
fectly at ease with respect to such a catastrophe during 
the short period of human life. But man is so disposed 
to yield to the dictates of fear, that the greatest 
Consternation was excited at Paris, and communicated 
to the provinces, in 1773, by a memoir of LaLande, in 
which he determined, of those comets which had been 
observed, the orbits that most nearly approached the 
earth: so true it is, that error, superstition, vain terrors, 
and all the evils of ignorance, are ever ready to start up, 
when the light of science is unfortunately extinguished." 
I most sincerely hope that such philosophers as these 
will not much longer be allowed to corrupt the people, 
by drawing them away from the truth, and by filling 
their minds with the " evils of ignorance" When the 



115 



" light of science is extinguished," says he! was it not 
the light of that science, of which philosophers make so 
loud a boast, that excited all these vain Terrors among 
the nations? Would the people, if they had even been 
left to the simple light of nature, for a single moment 
have thought of being burned up, drowned, or dashed 
into atoms, by a comet, had not such foolish doctrines 
been oracularly promulgated by philosophers? No, such 
wild ideas would never have entered their heads. And 
yet this philosopher had the impudence to tell us, in his 
closing passage, that the great Benefit of their 
sublime Discoveries, has been the having dissipated 
the alarms occasioned by extraordinary phenomena, and 
destroyed the errors springing from the ignorance of our 
true relation with nature; though he had just before told 
us, that the reading of La Lande's memoir, had excited 
in Paris and the provinces the greatest Consternation ! 
It will ever be thus, while astronomers take flights beyond 
the useful sphere allotted to them, and employ their 
imaginations in chimerical creations, or in astrological 
prognostications; in such employments they completely 
lose sight of the true dignity and credit of the science, 
and turn that into romance, which, like all other 
branches of useful knowledge, was designed to minister 
to the real use and advantage of society. In this view I 
agree in sentiment with John of Sarisbury, who wrote 
about seven hundred years ago. " The knowledge of 
astronomy/' said he, " is a noble and glorious science, 
if it keep its retainers within the bounds of moderation, 
but if it once leaps over those, and runs into vanity and 
extravagancy, it is no longer a part of philosophy, but 
becomes a wicked engine to entrap mankind." 

I must not, however, omit to mention, that there were 
a few of the disciples of Newton and Halley, who upon 



116 



this subject ventured to differ from their masters, by 
promulgating opinions of a more tranquillising character. 
One of them, whose book is now before me, is of opinion 
that in case a comet " should be more attracted by the 
earth than by the sun, we might, by that means, acquire 
another moon, which would be a change to our advantage, 
rather than a subject of terror and dismay." He does 
not however condescend to shew, by reasons, how such 
an acquisition would operate to our advantage: the 
inhabitants of this town, and neighbourhood, for ex- 
ample, would most certainly be ruined; for, if according 
to the principles of gravity, the tides should acquire a 
double elevation, a vast number of buildings, and 
adjoining fields, would inevitably be rendered useless, by 
being laid under water. Nor would that be the only 
calamity; for, according to the adopted Greek opinion 
of the moon's powerful operation upon human brains, 
the present number of lunatics would be doubled.* 

Sir Isaac Newton himself, in one place, considers 
comets as the great conservators of the universe; 
believing, " that the spirits which make the subtilest 
and best part of our air, and which is absolutely requisite 
for the life and being of all things, comes principally 
from the cometsV Somewhat similar is the account of 
Dr. Hamilton, who supposes them to be " vehicles ap- 
pointed to gather, and bring back, the electrical fluid, which 
he imagines to escape continually from the planets." 

* When a Lord Chancellor issues a commission in the nature of 
a writ De Lunatico inquirendo ; (that is, to enquire if a person be 
mooned;) it seems to countenance the practice of Judicial Astrolo- 
gy: for, how can a jury be qualified to judge, whether a man has 
become deranged in his intellects, by lunar influence, unless the 
parties composing it have studied astrology ? If neither the Chan- 
cellor, nor the Jury, study astrology, why derive and retain the term 
from the ancients, who worshipped Luna ? What an inconsistency! 



117 



This imputed service would/ perhaps, have been rendered 
more feasible, had he given them the animation, wings, 
and fins of Newton's great prototype Kepler, by means 
of which he imagined them to move through the aetherial 
spaces ! Descartes supposed that comets were old worn- 
cut suns, carried from their centres by vortices, and so 
brought within the bounds of the solar system ! 

In contradistinction to the belief and doctrines of the 
great body of Newtonians, who in positive terms define 
comets " solid, compact, fixed, and durable bodies ;" a 
few modern astronomers of eminence have concluded, 
from their own observations, that even their forms are 
changeable and sometimes of a vapid nature. Accord- 
ing to the testimonies of Windelimus, Cysatus and 
Hevelius, they have frequently been observed to change 
into various shapes, even in the course of a few seconds, 
while in the act of looking at them ; — no great proof 
that of a strong central gravity. The latter judged them 
to be solar exhalations; which opinion, with some 
modifications, was adopted by a Liverpool philosopher 
who, about fifty years ago, corresponded with Dr. 
Franklin upon the subject, and made himself rather 
merry at the idea of Newton and Halley gravely occu- 
pying their time in most elaborately calculating the 
imaginary orbit of an ignis fatuus ! 

I have now stated the principal doctrines of the mo- 
dern Pythagoreans concerning cometary appearances; 
and I think it is impossible to reflect upon them without 
entertaining a suspicion, that they have imbibed a con- 
siderable portion of that spirit which possessed their 
master when, in his cave at Samos, he studied those arts 
of imposture which, according to history, he afterwards 
played off upon the credulous people of Crotona. One 
Timon, a Greek writer, drew up his character in a few 



118 



words, when he described him, "the magician who 
loves nothing but vain glory, and who affects a gravity 
in his speech to entice men into his nets." 

While philosophers are thus jarring amidst a perpetual 
war of opinions, the belief of the multitude, in most na- 
tions, is uniform and fixed; namely, that comets are Signs. 
And such, likewise, have been the opinions of learned 
men in every age, until the labours, of modern philoso- 
phers began to remove, from the minds of men, the idea 
of a superintending Providence in the movements of the 
universe, and in the affairs of mankind: this might 
easily be shewn from the writings of historians, philo- 
sophers, and divines ; but there is no occasion to take 
up the time of the reader by quoting passages from their 
works. And whatever salutary impressions of awe may 
be the effect of that belief, they are quite moderate 
when compared with the false alarms of drowning, 
burning, and horrible destruction, which, on the appear- 
ance of one of those bodies, are now excited in the 
minds of the credulous by Newtonian philosophers; 
who manage to give currency to their dogmas under a 
belief, industriously propagated, that they are clothed in 
mathematical demonstration! It was no doubt the 
abuse and misapplication of mathematics which induced 
Agrippa to declare, that the closer a man adheres to the 
favourite contrivances of mathematical professors, the 
more remote he will ever find himself from useful 
science. Tacitus says they were a deceitful people, and 
prohibited from Rome. It likewise appears from other 
writers, that under the reign of Augustus, and some of 
his successors in the empire, astronomers, philosophers, 
and mathematicians, were at different times expelled 
from the city. That severity on the part of those 
emperors, was, in some degree, justifiable, because 



119 



mathematics were prostituted to purposes of imposition, 
under the vain pretences of foretelling- the destinies of 
individuals and states; as the same science is now used 
for the purpose of alarming and agitating weak minds, 
by prognostications of destruction to the globe. Such 
information can only proceed from the spiritual world, 
and has therefore nothing to do with the science of 
mathematics. 

Therefore the Romans, though an idolatrous people, 
were wise in discouraging such impious vanities: yet 
the Christians not only tolerate, but encourage them, 
though the religion they profess clearly prohibits such 
practices, as criminal.* A prophet, of the Jewish nation, 
being forewarned that his fellow-citizens and country- 
men would be carried away into captivity by a people 
who were under the influence and government of a 
regular system of mathematical delusion, gave them a 
wise and salutary injunction; " Learn not," said he, 
(C the way of the heathen, and be not afraid of the 
Signs of the Jieaven, for the heathen are dismayed at 
them." 

This was a precaution worthy of the Great Legislator 
of the World, who by the promulgation of His Laws, 
and by His other dispensations, had constantly warned 
them against the follies and dangers of superstition; re- 
commended to them the Divine Precepts, as infallible 
guides through life; and enjoined the practice of all the 
virtues to which those precepts steadily point; — tempe- 
rance, prudence, justice and fortitude; which are such 
things, says the illustrious author of the Book of Wis- 
dom, than which men can have nothing more profitable 
in this life. Wisdom viii. 7. 

* There are, I think, three Astrological works published annual- 
ly, in London, with the King's stamp upon them! 



120 



CHAPTER VI. 

ON THE SUPPOSED DIURNAL MOTION OF THE 
EARTH, FOUNDED ON THE NEWTONIAN EXPERI- 
MENTS OF THE SPINDLE AND SOFT BALL OF CLAY, 
IRON HOOP, MOP, PENDULUM, AND MEASUREMENTS 
OF A DEGREE ON THE EARTH ; — OPPOSITE CONCLU- 
SIONS OF PHILOSOPHERS. 



In the foregoing observations I have shewn that the 
Newtonian laws of motion are nothing more than mere 
mathematical conceits; — that they have no real exist- 
ence in the system of creation, and therefore can operate 
no other consequences than delusion and error in the 
minds of those who negligently rely upon them as 
substantial facts. 

But, that it may not be said that I have uncandidly 
taken a partial view of the matter, I will now examine, 
and comment on, a few points which they contend are 
visible demonstrative proofs of their theory being 
grounded on nature and facts. One of the most eminent 
of such proofs, they say, is to be found in the turnip, 
or orange-shaped, figure of the earth. They first 
contend, upon the ground of their experiments, that 
such figure must necessarily result from their mechanical 
theory; and then they proceed, in their own way, to 
prove, by other experiments and observations, that such, 
in reality, is the form of the terrestrial globe. 

To prove, that the oblate is the form naturally pro- 
duced by their centrifugal motion, they* by way of 



121 



Experiment, stick a spindle through the centre of a 
soft ball of clay, and, by spinning it briskly, they 
observe that the clay has a tendency to contract at the 
poles, and to fly off the spindle ! A certain astronomical 
professor exhibits the same effects by a thin iron lwop 
and a rod. " That this," says he, " must be the conse- 
quence, appears from this experiment; that if you take a 
thin iron hoop and make it revolve swiftly about one of 
its diameters, that diameter will be diminished, and the 
diameter which is perpendicular to it will be increased; 
now if we suppose the earth to revolve, the parts most 
distant from its axis must, from their greater velocity, 
have a greater tendency to fly off from the axis, and 
therefore that diameter which is perpendicular to the 
axis, must be increased." Another admired author says 
the same doctrine is proved by a mop ! ie When a 
mop/' says he, u is turned upon the arm by a quick 
circular motion, the threads or thrums are observed to 
rise highest in the middle, and the swifter the mop is 
whirled, the greater will be the force, and the particles 
will^i/ off with the greater velocity." 

These are genuine Newtonian experiments, designed 
to shew the principle and effect of the supposed diurnal 
motion of the earth; as the experiment of the string and 
ball, already described, was intended to illustrate the 
forces of the orbital motion. Some persons, who have 
not examined the ground-work of this celebrated system, 
may possibly imagine, that I am trifling with my 
readers — that such puerilities would have disgraced 
such renowned geniuses, and that therefore they could 
not possibly have introduced them as physical demon- 
strations. Be it known, however, to such, that a 
reference to their books will immediately convince them 

R 



122 



that I do not in the least exaggerate.* These are truly 
their own sagacious experiments; their sublime simili- 

* Dr. Desaguliers laid the following account before the Royal 
Society, and it was actually received and registered amongst their 
transactions ! 

" Upon an axis of iron, that could be made to turn swiftly, (by 
means of a wheel whose string went round a. pulley fixed to the said 
axis,) Dr. Desaguliers slipped on two ironhoops, whose planes inter- 
sected each other at right angles, representing two colures, which 
being in a spring temper, sprung in such a manner as to be one 
ninety-sixth part longer in that diameter that coincided with the 
axis, than in the equatorial diameter; this proportion being the 
same that Mr. Cassini supposes to be between the axis and equa- 
torial diameter of the earth: two circular plates, to which the said 
hoops were rivetted, had square holes, through which the axis 
passed ; so that the two poles of the oblong spheroid, which the 
hoops described in their revolution, might approach together in 
such a manner, as to let them put on the form of a true sphere; 
when, by the whirling, the equatorial diameter of the machine 
swelled, and overpowered the elasticity of the hoops : a greater 
degree of swiftness turned the sphere into an oblate spheroid of 
Sir Isaac Newton's figure ; a velocity still greater makes the dispro- 
portion of the diameters, such as those of Jupiter; and still the 
equatorial diameter increases with the centrifugal force." 

Here was an axis of iron; a, wheel; a string ; a. pulley; and two 
iron hoops; all set in rapid motion, to illustrate, or prove, Newton's 
imaginary figure of the earth, and by consequence, its rotatory 
motion! Had he twirled his hoop, before this Royal Society, to 
prove, that motion would raise the hoop in the middle, his machinery 
would have answered the object. But, as applicable to the globe, a 
tee-totum or peg-top would have been more suitable for the purpose; 
because such being firm and compact, they would have borne a greater 
similarity to the globe; and, on examination of them, after they had 
been spun, that learned society would have found, that the opera- 
tion had not swelled out their sides in the least! No doubt the 
hoop, by motion, would have flown off in a tangent, had it not been 
linked to the spindle; — no experiment was necessary to satisfy the 
learned society of that. The question they should have propounded, 
according to their own doctrines, ought to have been simply this: 
can a body revolving in a vacuum, about its own mathematical axis, 
fly away from itself? Such a question might, at least, have put a 
stop to the expense of money and time, laid out in pursuing inappli- 
cable experiments. The Newtonian philosophy had then recently 
triumphed over the Cartesian; and this experiment was brought 



123 



tudes! These are some of the facts alluded to by the 
reverend poet already quoted, upon which rest, 
" Those laws that to their mighty orbits chain 
The circling spheres, and bound the raging main." 
We show you, they exultingly exclaim, a system founded 
on the pyramidal base of experiments ! Well, gentle- 
men, I have not whirled the mop, but I have considered 
your experiment : yet, I have not been able to discover 
the least similarity between this beautifully variegated 
globe, composed of water, soft earth, sand and solid 
rocks; and your soft ball of clay, iron hoop, and 
your thrums. But there is another particular in which 
the globe differs considerably from your experimental 
instruments, and which seems to have escaped your 
notice whilst brooding over your favourite experiments; 
the earth has no iron axis stuck through its poles, nor 
any other kind of axis from which its parts can recede, 
and therefore your experiment is quite inapplicable. 
But even were it otherwise, the manifest effect of a 
centrifugal force, operating with an impulse according 
to the experiment, and the theory founded upon it 
by Newton, would be instant destruction to the globe; 
because if, by a revolution in twenty-rfour hours, or 
in any other given time, that force could so far exceed 
the power of gravity, as to protuberate seventeen miles 
on the equator, I cannot conceive any thing to prevent 
it from rapidly increasing; for, according to theory, the 
gravity of the equatorial parts would decrease as those 
parts swelled out: and the diurnal motion continuing 

forward to aid in the removal ofCassini's oblong form, in order that 
Newton's oblate form might occupy its place. The object was to 
destroy French bubbles, and raise English ones in their room. And 
this war of bubbles lasted, as I said before, fifty years, produced 
much froth, and the French Scavans were conquered! 



124 



the same, the motion of the equatorial parts would 
increase by a uniform acceleration, until the whole 
would separate, and fly away from the centre. I 
remember, when I was at a pottery, that in the process 
of forming a vessel upon the wheel; suppose globular, 
or egg-shaped; if the rapid motion of the spindle 
overbalanced the cohesive temper of the clay, and 
thereby forced the forming vessel to swell out beyond 
its prescribed gauge, a continuance of the same velocity 
of motion would continue to increase its diameter, until 
it suddenly burst, and flew off* the wheel in pieces. As 
therefore the globe is not so affected in the least, it is 
sufficiently manifest that the theory is false, and far more 
calculated to excite the scorn and derision of sensible 
men, than to form a foundation to support " Newton's 
immortality of renown !" 

Now with regard to the experimental and sensible 
proofs of the oblate form of the earth, which these philo- 
sophers tell their followers they have obtained on the 
surface of it ; I shall first notice that which they pretend 
to have derived from the unequal vibrations of the pen- 
dulum. By observation, they say, it has been found to 
beat slower at the equator than nearer to the poles; and 
in order to make a clock keep the same time at the 
equator as at the city of Paris, it is necessary to shorten 
the pendulum by a two-hundreth part of the whole 
length. When this effect was first said to have been 
observed on pendulums, Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. 
Huygens laid hold of the incident, and laboured hard to 
pass it off as a confirmation of their favourite theory of 
the earth's motion. But mark how widely these philo- 
sophical enthusiasts differed in their conclusions, though 
both calculated from exactly the same data. The former 
professed to demonstrate mathematically, that the polar 



125 



diameter was to the equatorial diameter as 6S9 to 692, 
being a difference of the two hundred and thirty-fifth 
part of the whole diameter; while the latter pretended, 
likewise, to prove mathematically, that the exact propor- 
tion one bore to the other, was as 577 to 875, being a 
difference of no less than about one-third of the whole 
diameter! The fallacy of the latter is sufficiently 
manifest from the circular appearance of the earth's 
shadow in a lunar eclipse. But Newton, more wary, 
well knew, that no observation, made upon the face of 
the globe, could by any means sensibly prove his state- 
ment of the matter to be true ; he therefore, (and that was 
the most material point,) stated the difference to be so 
exceedingly small, that he had no fears of being detected : 
and his superior credit as a mathematician, secured to 
him the faith of his admirers, who, without hesitation, 
adopted his account of the matter as an important truth 
not to be questioned. 

There were, however, certain learned men, who, in 
opposition to the demonstrations of these mathema- 
ticians, thought the difference in question was caused by 
the pendulum being affected by circumstances quite un- 
connected with the form of the earth. Messrs. Picart and 
De la Hire, two celebrated French philosophers, instead 
of ascribing the alterations in the vibration to the force 
of more, or less, gravity, produced experiments to prove, 
that the observed effects might possibly be caused by an 
increase of heat, in the torrid zone, lengthening the rods, 
and consequently lengthening the vibrations; or by cold 
producing the contrary effects. 

When I formerly wrote upon this subject, I expressed 
an opinion, that the increased density of the air, on 
approaching towards the* poles, would more naturally 
account for the irregularity of the pendulum's motion, 



126 



than the fancied distortion of the globe. Since then, 
on looking into the Philosophical Transactions, I find 
something like a confirmation of that opinion in the 
account there recorded of Dr. Derham's experiments. 
In treating of the figure of the earth, he seems to have 
paid no regard to the pretended experiments of the 
pendulum under the equator; " For," says he, " I have 
shewn" (No. 294, Phil. Trans.) "from the like variations 
in the air-pump, that this may arise from the rarity of 
the air there more than Tiere." And in No. 480, the 
same writer is more particular; relating some experi- 
ments he had made on pendulums vibrating in an 
exhausted receiver, he observed, that " the arches of 
vibration, in vacuo, were larger than in the open air, or 
in the receiver before it was exhausted: that the enlarge- 
ment or diminution of the arches of vibration, were 
constantly proportional to the quantity of air, or rarity 
or density of it, which was left in the receiver of the air- 
pump. And as the vibrations were larger or shorter, so 
the times were accordingly; viz. two seconds in an 
hour when the vibrations were largest, and less and less 
as the air was re-admitted, and the vibrations shortened." 
" Hence," says Mr. Stone, " the resistance of the air 
must certainly be a considerable obstacle to the equable 
going of a clock." 

Here then are the opinions and experiments of Picart, 
De la Hire, Derham and Stone; opposed to the fancies 
of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Huygens, who also, as I 
have stated, widely differed in their own mathematical 
conclusions ! 

Diogenes, an ancient philosopher of Apollonia, suc- 
cessor to Anaxagoras, is said to have held an opinion 
that the earth was of an oval, or egg form; such also 
was the notion adopted by Kepler and after him by 



127 



Cassini, a French astronomer. But Newton opposed 
the latter by reasons drawn from, and built upon, his 
favorite theory and experiments of centrifugal forces. 
The dispute ran high; Louis XIV. took an interest in 
the question, and ordered the whole arc of the meridian 
passing through France to be measured, which was 
accomplished in the year 171S by Picart, De la Hire and 
Cassini. The latter placing more dependance upon the 
accuracy of his measures, than upon conclusions drawn 
from Newton's theoretical reasoning, contended, that 
the true form of the earth was that of a prolate spheroid: 
But Newton, sitting in his chair, without measuring an 
inch, or taking a single observation, pertinaciously stuck 
to his own theory and obstinately insisted that its shape 
bore a nearer resemblance to that of a garden turnip or 
an orange. In this state of contending opinions the 
question was considered of high importance, involving 
in its decision the honor of the two nations ! Accord- 
ingly the French King, in order to ascertain the point 
to a nicety, as he supposed, and put the matter to 
rest, resolved, no doubt with the 'advice of his first 
mathematicians, to send philosophers to the northern 
and southern parts of the earth for the purpose of taking 
the actual measure of a degree of the meridian in both 
situations. One company went to Bothnia in the north, 
and the other to Peru in the south. The latter having 
measured above three degrees, resolved that the first 
degree of the meridian from the equator was 56,753 
toises. The philosophers who travelled to Lapland, 
having measured somewhat less than a degree of the 
meridian cutting the polar circle, gave in as the result 
of their calculation 57 5 422 toises for the length of a 
degree in Bothnia. These dimensions ascertained, as 
it was believed, with the most rigorous accuracy, were 



128 



every where received by astronomers, (as their books 
show,) with much exultation, as a complete confirmation 
of Newton's theory. But it now appears, if any reliance 
is to be placed upon the recent measurement of the 
same portion of the globe in Bothnia by the Swedish 
astronomers, that the French were very incorrect in 
their account; having made the degree there one hun- 
dred and ninety-six toises more than the true length. 
So that the account will stand thus. 
The length of a degree in the north, according 

the Swedish astronomers, - - — - - - - 57,226 
The length of a degree under the equinoctial, as 

reported by the French surveyors, — • - 56,753 

113,979 

The mean of which is 56,939 
Now it appears, that the mean differs from the "two ex- 
treme lengths, only two hundred and thirty-seven toises* 
(a little more than the error of the French measure,) the 
two hundred and fortieth part of a whole degree or one 
inch in twenty feet ! How far so small a difference could 
be certainly ascertained under the pitiable circumstances 
in which these poor frost-bitten mathematicians were 
placed, let the reader candidly judge from the account 
given by the French: whether the Swedes were more 
comfortably circumstanced 1 am not informed. 

"In measuring the base line," says Maupertius, "we 
separated into two bands, each of which carried four 
rods of fir, each thirty feet long, I shall say nothing of 
the fatigues and dangers of this operation. Judge what it 
must be, to walk in snow two feet deep, with heavy poles 
in our hands, which we were obliged to be continually 
laying on the snow and lifting again : in a cold so exces* 
sine that whenever we coidd taste a little brandy, the only 



129 

thing that could be kept liquid; our tongues and lips froze 
to the cup and came away bloody; in a cold that con- 
gealed the fingers of some of us, and threatened us with 
still more dismal accidents; while the extremities of our 
bodies were thus freezing, the rest, through excessive toil, 
was bathed in sweat" 

Had these surveyors sat down together before they 
started upon this dreary and perilous expedition, and 
coolly reflected, that the object of it was to determine a 
thing which, in truth, was not determinable; namely, to 
ascertain, to a certainty, the small difference of one inch 
in twenty feet, or thereabouts; they surely would not 
have persevered in the folly of the undertaking; but, 
like honest men, would have counselled the King, their 
master, to reserve his patronage and his bounty for the 
promotion of some scheme that, at least, would not have 
incurred an imputation of so great a defect of understand- 
ing, as appears to have been shown in the one before us. 

The philosophers who travelled to the south, had, if 
possible, still greater difficulties to encounter. When 
placed upon the high mountains, making their obser- 
vations, besides experiencing excessive cold, they were 
sometimes in such danger of being blown down the 
precipices, that even their Indian attendants were 
frightened away from them. In these dreary and alarm- 
ing situations, both companies had to measure their 
base lines; — their terrestrial and celestial angles: — after- 
wards to try to reduce their measures to the level of the 
sea! And with all these extraordinary difficulties to 
surmount, they gravely professed to have discovered, 
that a degree under the equator, or at the polar circle, 
measured a quarter of a mile, more or less, than one in 
France! With as much colour of reason they might have 
asserted, that in the midst of a storm, they could shoot 

s 



130 



an arrow, so skilfully as to split a hair at the distance 
of fifty yards ! For even if they had had none of the dif- 
ficulties to encounter which I have mentioned; an error 
of one-fourth of a minute in their celestial observations, 
would have rendered all their other operations useless; 
because such error would have comprehended as great 
a quantity as the assigned difference. And every man, 
who is experienced in the use of instruments for taking 
angles, will, if he be candid, acknowledge the impossi- 
bility of measuring them to a certainty within much 
less than a minute — particularly in the inconvenient 
situations I have described — even leaving out other 
weighty considerations, such as the imperfections of eye- 
sight, instruments, and the continual variations in the 
state of aerial refractions. The swagging of their 
measuring poles would cause a considerable error; and 
even the pole itself, if measured by a metallic foot, would 
be shorter in the northern than it would be in the 
southern latitudes. So that upon a just consideration of 
all the unconquerable obstacles that every where opposed 
these philosophers, through the whole process of their 
undertaking, I am of opinion, that Mr. La Lande, (in 
his History of Astronomy for 1805,) might have spared 
his expression of surprise, that his countrymen should 
have committed such a mistake at Tornea: the thing 
most surprising, in my opinion, is, that the measures of 
the different parties should so nearly coincide with each 
other, unless it be supposed, that theory required a 
tolerably near agreement! 

Such, however, is the other experimental proof of the 
pole-flattened figure of the earth; and, thence, of its 
motion upon its axis. Whatever objections reflecting 
men may now think it liable to, it was then readily 
received and admitted along with the pendulum, to give 



131 



support to this favourite hypothesis; which, long before 
that time, had charmed and prepossessed nearly all the 
philosophers in Christendom. But, what is rather a 
curious circumstance, and certainly deserves to be 
noticed, is, that the measurements made in France, 
from which Cassini mathematically demonstrated that 
the form of the earth was an oblong spheroid, were 
afterwards brought forward to prove the opposite figure, 
namely, the oblate spheroid : and they assure us, that 
after (( proper corrections" it agreed " very well" with the 
proofs fetched by the philosophers from the north and the 
south! The truth of the whole matter seems to be, that 
as the general current of public opinion ran in favour of 
the Newtonian theory, there was neither literary credit, 
nor chance of success to be had in resisting the stream; 
the few isolated objectors, therefore, though perhaps 
possessing superior knowledge, were soon put to silence 
amidst the universal plaudits of the great majority of the 
Newtonians. 



132 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE IMAGINARY MOTION OF THE EARTH IN AN 
ORBIT, CONTRADICTED BY SIGHT, REASON AND SCRIP- 
TURE ; -THE TENTH CHAPTER OF JOSHUA, AND THE 
THIRTY-EIGHTH OF ISAIAH, TROUBLESOME OBSTA- 
CLES TO PHDLOSOPHERS;— ELABORATE ATTEMPTS OF 
BISHOP WILKINS, KEPLER, AND OTHERS, TO EXPLAIN 
AWAY CERTAIN PASSAGES j-CRITICAL REMARKS ON 
THE HEBREW NAMES OF THE SUN, MOON, AND OTHER 
HEAVENLY ORBS SEARCHES IN HEAVEN FOR CON- 
FIRMATION OF THE OBLATE FIGURE OF THE EARTH; 
—DISAGREEMENT AMONGST THE NEWTONIANS CON- 
CERNING THE APPARENT FORMS OF THE PLANETS. 



King Solomon, in the beginning of his book called 
The Preacher, affirms, that all things are in motion ex- 
cepting the earth: that generation succeeds generation; 
that the sun moves about the earth; that the wind per- 
petually whirls about to the south, and from the south 
to the north, according to its circuits; that the rivers 
flow from their sources into the sea, and thence return 
to their sources: but the earth, says he, stands still for 
ever.* The same philosophical truths are corroborated 
by other passages of Scripture as well as by the certain 

* But as some may think that this might be translated " remains 
or continues for ever;" it may be proper to notice another passage 
or two. u He laid the foundation of the earth that it should not be 
moved for ever." Psal. civ. 5. " Thou hast established the earth 
and it standeth." Psal. cxix. 90. 



133 



evidence of our senses. And so well satisfied are the 
Newtonians, of the utter insufficiency of all their elabo- 
rate arguments and boasted experiments to produce a 
direct and manifest proof, or any proof at all, to invali- 
date the divine assertion, that they are constrained to 
declare, that " were it not for the fixed stars, it would be 
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to prove the motion of 
the earth. We should suppose that the planets made a 
complete revolution between any two similar situations 
with respect to the sun, because the places of elongation 
are similarly described, and are in quantity the same, 
whether the earth be in motion or not. It is from the 
apparent motion of the sun with respect to the fixed stars, 
that we conclude that the earth describes an orbit in 
about three hundred and sixty-five days." Posterity 
will, I believe, read with astonishment, that the men 
of this age, by looking at the sun in motion, supposed it 
to stand still! As there is no appearance, even accord- 
ing to their own admission, and consequently no proof, 
of the earth's motion; why not draw the natural and 
obvious conclusion, that the sun really describes the 
orbit which he appears to do? That, however, would 
not suit their purpose, and therefore they go on to 
assert, that " the strongest objection that can be made 
against the earth's motion round the sun, is, that in 
opposite points of the earth's orbit, its axis, which 
always keeps a parallel direction, would point to 
different fixed stars, which is not found to be the fact. 
But this objection is easily removed by considering" 
(not by experiment,) " the immense distance of the fixed 
stars, in respect of the diameter of the earth's orbit, the 
latter being no more than a point when compared with 
the former." Thus they consider a thing as they would 
have it, and then they positively assert that it is so! 



134 



In order to make this objection, respecting the poles, 
go down " easily," it is necessary to believe, that al- 
though two opposite points of the earth constantly co- 
incide, to a single second, with two opposite points in 
the heaven : (which points, are not perpendicular to the 
plane of the supposed orbit of the earth, but to the 
centre of the plane of the equinoctial;) I say, that, not- 
withstanding the well-known fact that these four points, 
the celestial and terrestrial poles, are, according to the 
nicest observation's made with the most perfect instru- 
ments, immutably fired in the same right line; we are 
required to believe, or be stigmatized "the worst of 
heretics," that the globe moves one hundred and forty 
one times faster than a ball shot from the mouth of a 
cannon unperceived by us on its surface! Further, we 
are required to believe, that in December, we are about 
200,000,000 of miles from the place we left in June, 
though we cannot possibly discover, by the most exact 
observation of the polar star, that we have moved one 
inch ! 

This unchangeable coincidence of the poles of the 
world is so decisive a proof that the earth does not move, 
that, in order to set it aside, it was necessary for 
the masters of the Newtonian school to astound and 
overwhelm the understandings of their disciples with an 
assertion which, in the whole annals of romance, was 
perhaps never outdone. O, say they, it is easy to remove 
this objection, " because from what we know of the 
immense distance of the fixed stars the nearest of them 
is 32,000,000,000,000 of miles, which is further than 
a cannon ball would fly in seven millions of years!" 
Reader, look at this fine row of figures and reflect 
upon the assertion ! That amazing stretch was no doubt 
intended as a finishing stroke to the hint given by 



135 



the great Dr. Wallis about one hundred and sixty years 
ago. Noticing the u parallax of the earth's annual orbit 
to prove the Copernican system; if," says he, " it can 
be observed, it proves the affirmative; but if it cannot 
be observed it doth not prove the negative, but only 
proves that the semidiameter of the earth's epicycle is so 
small" (95,000,000 of miles I) " as not to make any sen- 
sible parallax." You will perceive, reader, by this, that 
the Doctor was pre-determined to receive evidence only 
in support of the Copernican hypothesis, but not a word 
against it; otherwise 1 conceive that it would have been 
more consistent with fairness and candour to have 
expressed himself to this effect. "If it can be discovered 
that the declinations of what are termed the fixed stars, 
are manifestly different in June from what they are in 
December, such difference may be received as an argu- 
ment in favourof the Copernican system; but if, by the 
most diligent and careful observations made with the 
best instruments, not the smallest difference can at any 
time possibly be discovered, it may then be fairly in- 
ferred that the earth is firmly and perpetually at rest. 

Now the result of all observations made to ascertain 
this point has been, that the declinations of the fixed stars 
are every day in the year the same to a hair's breadth; 
(for the change in one year by the precession of the 
equinoxes cannot be discerned,) and therefore in order to 
render nugatory the evidence which so fully confirms the 
revealed system in Genesis, the followers of Newton are 
called upon to credit the enormous tale, that a cannon 
ball with its greatest velocity, if that velocity were 
continued for seven millions of years, would not reach 
the nearest of the fixed stars ! ! ! 

Oh how these philosophers have tortured their imagi- 
nations and exercised their ingenuity to invent plausi- 



136 



bilities to support their system ! Mr. Romer and Mr. 
Huygens pretended to calculate the motion of light 
reflected from the small stars which move along with the 
planet Jupiter, in order to render the idea of an annual 
motion a little feasible: but Mr. Cassini and Mr. Miraldi 
after examining the hypothesis, by a great number of 
observations, expressed an opinion that those philoso- 
phers were completely mistaken. What Mr. Bradley 
wrote about the motion and aberration of light was of 
about equal importance and merited just the same atten- 
tion, as is evident from Dr. Maskelyne's remarks upon 
the uncertainty attending such nice observations; for, 
when he attempted to ascertain the parallax of Sirius with 
a ten feet sector, he found, by the friction of the plummet 
line upon the pin, by which it was suspended, that an 
error of ten to thirty seconds could not well be avoided. 
Upon the whole then it is abundantly evident, vthat no 
annual parallax has ever been discovered; and that there- 
fore there exists not even the shadow of a proof, that the 
sun is stationary and the earth in rapid motion. 

He who revealed his own system has not left his 
people to doubtful aberrations or uncertain glimmerings 
of light, but has illustrated and confirmed his account 
with such decisive clearness, and by such infallible 
proofs, as will I trust in time to come effectually defend 
it against the sophisms of the academics; the petty 
experiments of mathematical mechanics; or the decep- 
tive mediums of opticians; for, with the manifestations 
of his boundless power, he has, on certain memorable 
occasions been pleased to combine such demonstrations 
of his moral and natural truths, as ought to secure the 
credit of his system against the misrepresentations of 
careless ignorance or the vain manoeuvres of insidious 
opposition. The people heard from the top of Sinai 



137 



divinely articulated a re-authentication of the history of the 
creation : they afterwards saw and heard Joshua divinely 
empowered to stop the sun (not the earth,) and moon in 
their courses. And if further proofs of that system were 
necessary for the confirmation of it, there was one in the 
reign of King Hezekiah completely decisive. The 
shadow upon the dial* went back ten degrees; "so 
returned the sun ten degrees by which it had gone down" 
So it is literally expressed by the man who was commis- 
sioned by the Creator to give, in fact, a lecture upon 
the grand orrery of the universe ! The Hebrew people 
saw these things, and for that reason they have believed 
and taught a knowledge of them to their children, from 
generation to generation. Their astronomical system 
was indeed the only one deserving of adoption, for it 
possessed accuracy of description conjoined with the 
corroborating proofs of experimental action. 

The records in the sacred books, and the evidence 
of the senses, have proved most troublesome obstacles 
to that class of philosophers, who have so laboriously 
exerted themselves to establish a system, which, in all 
points, absolutely contradicts both, and which requires 
the evidence of both to be dismissed, as false and 
deceptive. To accomplish that object, the sceptical 
philosophers have been aided by the countenance, and 
even by the labours of the clergy. So early as the 
days of St. Augustine, the clergy seem to have been 
rather remiss and defective in their defence of the divine 
account of the celestial motions: on a question being 
started in his time, amongst his flock, concerning the 
motion of the heaven, " whether it be fixed or moved?" 

* If other proofs were entirely wanting, I think, it might, be 
fairly inferred, that as the Jews understood the construction of 
dials, they must have had a knowledge of the true figure of the earth. 

T 



138 



He replied, " These points require many subtile and 
profound reasons for the making out whether they be 
really so or no ; the undertaking and discussing of which 
is neither consistent with my leisure nor their duty, 
whom I desire to instruct in the necessary matters more 
directly conducing to their salvation, and to the benefit 
of the holy church.*" One might suppose, that neither 
the benefit of the holy church, nor the people's salvation, 
would have suffered by instructing them, and confirming 
in their minds a belief of the revealed history of creation, 
and other divine declarations concerning the true mo- 
tions of the heavenly bodies. The Rev. Dr. Derham, 
as if apologizing for the penmen of the holy scriptures 
not expressing the doctrines taught by the Newtonians, 
assures his readers, that " the design of the holy scrip- 
tures is not to instruct men in philosophical, but divine 
matters; that they speak of things according to appear- 
ance and the vulgar notion, and the opinion which men 
have of them, not according to reality, or philosophical 
verity." Now, I would seriously ask all the reverend 
ministers of religion, who have imbibed and supported 
this view of those venerable monuments of historical 
information, " If the Foundations be destroyed, 

WHAT CAN THE RlGHTEOUS DO?" If He, who of his 

own free-will gave existence to man, instead of instruct- 
ing us and correcting our erroneous and corrupt notions, 
ordered his servants, to deceive us in natural and visible 

# Cardinal Baronius treated the matter in terms still shorter, 
" The intention of the Holy Ghost," says he, " is to teach us how 
we shall go to heaven, and not how heaven goeth." The Cardinal, it 
seems, was not aware that many would despise and reject such 
teaching, under an impression, (industriously and falsely produced 
by philosophers,) that the Bible gave an erroneous account 
of natural phenomena, and therefore was not to be regarded 
in spiritual matters. 



139 



things, who shall vouch for those that are spiritual and 
invisible? If he has allowed us to be deceived in his 
account of created things, so likewise he may have done 
in spiritual things — the scripture draws no distinction. 
Joshua said, in the sight of Israel, " Sun stand thou 
still, in the direction of Gibeon, and the Sun stood still" 
" And he (Jesus) arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto 
the sea, peace, be still! And the wind ceased, and there 
was a great calm." Now, in both of these ever memora- 
ble instances, the respective historians have taken care 
to inform us, in the most clear and express terms, that 
there was an exact agreement between the words spoken 
and the effects which instantly followed. Therefore if 
the one be false the other is also. 

The same Dr. Derham, with some others, affects to 
think it probable, that the miracle, in the case of Joshua, 
" was effected by means of some preternatural refractions, 
or extraordinary meteors!" Why this shuffling — why 
pretend to believe the miracle at all ? I certainly can 
conceive no just reason, why God, or Joshua, should 
exercise any juggling or cheating in the accomplishment 
of the wonderful event. Why should there be a dis- 
agreement between the word and its immediate effect; 
between His truth and His power? If, until that 
moment, the eyes of the people had misinformed and 
deceived their understandings, respecting the true 
celestial motions, how easy was it for Him, who had 
created both, then to inform their ignorance! But, 
philosophers will judge in their own way upon these 
matters. They arrogate to themselves the privilege of 
calling in question all things, both divine and human : — 
the truth of God must, forsooth, give way to the estab- 
lishment of their system, as the true worship, in ancient 
times, did to the false worship of various idols of the 



140 



imagination; not because their system is of the least 
benefit to the world, — for nothing that is false can be 
so; — but because they imagine that their fame, as 
learned men, or their interest, as authors, is identified with 
it. These insidious sappers of the foundation, are, in my 
estimation, far more culpable than the writer whom I 
first quoted; for, although he has thrown off the mask, 
and openly, without reserve, attacked the whole divine 
fabrick, he has done it upon the ground, and with the 
weapons, prepared by his sophistical predecessors. 

This celebrated passage of Joshua, which is so clearly 
expressed in a few words, has given philosophers a vast 
deal of trouble. If they could have erased it from the 
Bible I believe, they would, have done it long ago: they 
have attacked, explained, and commented upon it, in so 
many ways, that if their observations were collected 
together, they would fill a large volume. The pas- 
sage, however, remains in its native force, and is in 
itself a host against their system. John Kepler, the 
astrologer, who was mathematician to the Emperor 
Rudolf; on finding that his calculations would neither 
fit the works nor the word of God, followed the bent 
of his own crooked mind, and determined to warp them 
both to his own views. It was he who, in imagination, 
first changed the planetary courses, from the true line 
of regularity and beauty, to his own distorted plan; but 
in carrying on the false construction of his system, he 
found himself confronted and opposed in his progress by 
the astronomical event in Joshua ; and, in his spleen, he 
appears to have been determined to give the passage a 
more violent twist, than even he had previously done to 
the celestial orbits. " Incogitant persons," says he, 
(< only look upon the contrariety of the words ; the sun 
stood still; that is, the earth stood still; not considering 



141 



that this contradiction is confined within the limits of 
the optics and astronomy: for which cause it is not 
outwardly exposed to the notice and use of men : nor 
will they understand that the only thing Joshua prayed 
for, was that the mountains would not intercept the sun 
from Mm, which request he expressed in words that 
suited with his ocular sense."* Such is the com- 
mentary of the famous Kepler! It in some degree 
justifies the observation of one of his eulogists, who 
asserts, that, ee by his own talents and industry, he 
has made discoveries, of which no traces are to be found 
in all the annals of antiquity." No doubt this is an 
instance in proof of his wonderful talent for discovery! 
Let any one compare it with the passage in the tenth 
chapter of Joshua, and be convinced. But Galileo says, 
that " whenever the world's system is in dispute, it is 
necessary to gloss and interpret the words of the text in 
Joshua," Quite as necessary as it was some centuries 
ago to gloss and remove the Bible out of the way, 
when the popish system was first in dispute! Thus it is 
that the whole scripture is attempted to be made void; 
by the philosophers in naturals, and by the religionists 
in spirituals: but it is above a match for them both, 
because sense and reason will for ever stand up in 
support of it. Its light exposes the delusive philoso- 
phical jurisdiction of Galileo and Newton, as much as it 
condemns the false spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope. 
God will, in due time, be acknowledged as faithful in the 
description of his works and in the operations of them, as 
in the dispensations of his judgments and of his mercy. 

I might here add many other curious glosses upon this 
celebrated passage, as well as on the one concerning the 

* But he refers his readers to the tenth chapter of his optics for 
more particular refutation of the tenth chapter of Joshua! 



142 



dial of Ahaz, from Augustine, Abulensis, Cajetan, Galileo, 
Magaglianus, Fantoni, and a great number of others 
amongst Cartesians and Newtonians: but on these 
points, as on other things, they writhe, twist, and 
contradict each other; generally, however, concluding 
with Cardinal Baronius, H that the intention of the Holy 
Ghost, is to teach us how we shall go to heaven, and not 
how heaven goeth!" There is, however, one of these 
unmerciful commentators whose exposition it may not 
be amiss to notice, on account of the conspicuous part 
which he acted in the establishment of the solar system. 

About the time that Newton, in Oxfordshire, was 
systematizing Pythagoras's mathematical principles of 
gravity, Bishop Wilkins, 1 * in support of the solar sys- 
tem, was labouring, in Chester, to explain away the 
truth of all opposing passages of scripture. His work 
on that subject is elaborate and curious as the spider's 
web; — like that it has caught many weak flutterers about 
the temple of knowledge, but it can no more withstand 
the force of truth, than the web can obstruct the flight 
of the eagle. Adverting to the miracle aforesaid, in the 
acts of Joshua, the Bishop asserts, that, in certain cases, 
the Holy Ghost doth conform himself unto the false 
appearance of things and our grosser conceit." No won 
der that scepticism increases and spreads, when such 
indecent libels on the sacred records are promulgated 
and taught by Bishops and Priests. The reverse how- 
ever is the fact : it has ever been the intent of divine 
revelation to unmask false appearances and to correct our 
grosser conceits. For, says the Holy One of Israel, to 
his erring people; " my thoughts are not as your thoughts, 
nor my ways as your ways." He has frequently con- 
descended to teach the humble knowledge, but never 

* Who was one of the first members of the Royal Society. 



143 



made any communication by his servants that could even 
have the least tendency to countenance, much less to 
confirm, his people in error by adopting the language of 
either their ignorance or of their folly. So the Sun stood 
still in the midst of heaven; says the scripture; (Joshua 
x. 13.) upon which the Bishop remarks, "Now to speak 
properly, and as the thing is in itself, heaven has no midst 
but the centre; and therefore this also must be interpreted 
in reference to the ojnnion of the vulgar" Well then, is 
it fair to infer, from the introduction of the word, midst, 
that the rest of the account is the reverse of what is 
expressed ? Are we to believe, because it is said, " the 
Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea," 
that they were not so overthrown? Very curious argu- 
ments these, to be used against the divine system of the 
celestial motions. Even on the supposition, that the 
event took place when the sun passed the meridian, the 
appearance would justify the expression made use of by 
Joshua. But he seemed determined by all means to in- 
validate the record of Joshua. Upon this part of it, 
" And there was no day like that before it or after it," 
he remarks, that those words were " not to be understood 
absolutely, for there are always longer days at the poles, 
but in respect to the opinion of the vulgar, that is, there 
was never any day so long which these ignorant people 
knew of" No, nor that the wise philosophers knew of; 
the expression is perfectly correct, for whether to the 
inhabitants of Judea, or the polar regions, the day would 
be lengthened by so much time as the sun was stationary 
in its course: all the people on the globe, who had then 
the sun above their horizon, would experience a length- 
ened day, while all the rest would find a lengthened 
night; so that the expression of Joshua is, in a scientific 
view, absolutely correct — there was no day like that before 



144 



or after it. Therefore the vulgarity and ignorance, which 
he charges upon Joshua and his companions, falls en- 
tirely to his own share. The constant tutor of Joshua was 
that Divine Being who gave to man an intelligent soul; 
of course it is reasonable to believe, that under His in- 
struction, though he might be ignorant of the dogmas 
of the philosophers, in other respects he was not lo* 
stupid and ignorant as the Bishop imagined him to be. 
Let those who are of his opinion read the elegant eulo- 
gium of Joshua's character drawn by the son of Sirac, 
and confute it if they can. 

The said Bishop then proceeds to his explication of 
the passage respecting the returning of the sun in King 
Hezekiah's time. " I think," says he, " it may probably 
be affirmed, that it is to be understood only concerning 
its shadow, which against its nature did seem to go back- 
ward, when as the sun itself was not in the least manner 
altered from its usual course. The reasons for it may be 
these. First, the miracle is proposed only concerning 
the shadow; wilt thou that the shadow shall ascend or 
return by ten degrees? There being not in the offer of 
the wonder, any the least mention made concerning the 
sun's going backward." What a tissue of sophistry and 
contradiction is here ! It was the shadow which seemed 
(how reluctant !) to go backward, and not the sun. This 
is one of those absurdities which these philosophers re- 
quire their followers to believe, however contrary it may 
be to the known course of nature. If the dial remained 
stationary, how could the shadow move backward with- 
out a corresponding motion of the sun? The return of 
both in coincidence was certainly wonderful, but the 
return of the shadow alone would have been infinitely 
more astonishing. Yet the Bishop would have it so; 
he would even rather believe in the possibility of an 



145 



effect produced without its natural cause, than that his 
own darling system should be touched. " The miracle," 
says he, " is proposed only concerning the shadow, 
there being not in the offer of the wonder the least 
mention made concerning the sun's going backward." 
Very true, the sun was not named in the offer of the 
wonder; but the Holy Spirit, foreseeing the insidious 
perversion of sceptics, took care, on the accomplishment 
of the miracle, to have the fact expressly mentioned in 
these words, " So the sun returned ten degrees, by which 
degrees it had gone down." It is impossible for words 
to be more precisely descriptive of action; there is not 
the least ambiguity of expression for the most dexterous 
disputant to exercise his ingenuity upon. The Bishop, 
nevertheless, expected his readers to believe his opinion, 
in preference to the historical account of Isaiah, who 
was an eye-witness, and actually engaged in the opera- 
tion of the amazing event. (e This sign," says the 
Bishop, " did not appear in the sun;" to prove which, 
he makes use of a very extraordinary argument; 
" because" says he, " in II. Chron. xxxii. 31. 'tis said, 
that the ambassadors of the King of Babylon did come 
unto Hezekiah to enquire of the wonder that was done 
in the land; and therefore it seems the miracle did not 
consist in any change of the heavens. If it had been in 
the sun, it would have been as well discerned in other 
parts or the world, as in the land of Judea, and then 
what need the King of Babylon send thither to enquire 
after it?" The Bishop here takes it for granted, that 
the wonder, concerning which the ambassadors came to 
enquire, was that respecting the shadow on the dial, 
though there is no clear ground for that supposition, 
either in the Second Book of Kings, or in the Book of 
Isaiah, where the account of the miracle is recorded. 

u 



146 



In those books it is merely stated, that the King of 
Babylon had sent his ambassadors with letters and a 
present, on hearing that Hezekiah had been sick and 
was recovered. Alluding to the mission of those ambas- 
dors in the Second Book of Chronicles, where the acts 
of that worthy King are recorded, the account closes 
with these words; " Howbeit in the business of the 
ambassadors of the Prince of Babylon, who sent unto 
him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, 
God left him to try him," &c. But nothing is said 
there, or any where else, concerning the nature of the 
wonder that they came to enquire about; therefore it is 
as reasonable to suppose, that they came to enquire 
about, and to congratulate him upon, the event of the 
miraculous cure he had received, as for the purpose of 
enquiring into the fact of the sun being brought back in 
its course. But I will admit, for the sake of argument, 
that the latter is the fact principally alluded to; — how 
does this prove, that the " miracle did not consist in any 
change in the heavens/' or that the Babylonians had not 
seen the retrograde motion of the sun ? If they had not 
observed the wonderful appearance, or been very 
credibly informed of it, I cannot believe that so powerful 
a prince would have sent ambassadors to enquire about 
the strange motion of a shadow! The Chaldeans were 
astrologers, and of course very diligent and exact ob- 
servers of the motions of the heavenly bodies : and if, 
as may be inferred from the account, the event hap- 
pened when the sun was nearly setting, a retrograde 
motion of ten degrees, such as we estimate them, could 
scarcely have escaped their notice. We may, then, 
reasonably conceive, that they did witness this great 
phenomenon, and while they were in doubt and per- 
plexity, concerning what could be the meaning of it, 



147 



probably news arrived, that.it was a sign which the 
Creator of the sun had been pleased to give to a pious 
and excellent prince in token of his regard, to assure 
him of his recovery from a dangerous disease: under 
such circumstances, and having perhaps heard of other 
great manifestations of divine power and mercy to the 
Hebrews, in times past, it would be very natural that 
the King and Princes of Babylon should be desirous of 
enquiring concerning (e the wonder that was done in the 
land," and therefore, according to the eastern custom, 
he sent ambassadors with letters of congratulation, 
accompanied by suitable presents. I suppose they 
would have an opportunity of conversing with the 
Hebrew astronomers 5 for it appears that they were 
treated with great hospitality and distinction, and were 
shown every thing that was curious and valuable in the 
kingdom. This is my view of the matter, but let every 
one consider and judge of it as it appears most reasona- 
ble to himself. 

The Bishop asks, " Why have we no mention made 
of it in the writings of the ancients? It is no way likely 
that so great a miracle as this was, if it were in the sun, 
should have been passed over in silence." I answer, — 
the account in the sacred history appears to be honestly 
related; and if we profess to believe it to be the book of 
truth, why require confirmations from the historians of 
idolatrous nations, whose books are acknowledged to be 
stuffed with lies and fabulous romances? But there is a 
very sufficient reason, why many wonderful passages in the 
Hebrew history are not corroborated by other ancient 
historians; which is, because the principal events of the 
Hebrew annals had taken place long before even the 
time of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, whom Cicero calls 
the father of history. It is however very worthy of 



148 



remark, that that writer, after mentioning the flight of 
Senacherib, relates, that the sun had, in times past, 
inverted his course and risen in the west four times. 
Now, the sacred historian, immediately after ending his 
relation of the flight and destruction of Senacherib, 
mentions the sun to have inverted his course and risen 
once in the west; for, as it is said to have " gone down," 
it must of course have appeared to some nations, situated 
east of Judea, to rise up in the west by the space men- 
tioned, namely, ten degrees: but the Bishop was so 
extremely reluctant to admit any testimony that might 
seem to make against his favourite argument, that 
because the account in Herodotus states the sun to have 
had the said inverted motion four times in ten thousand 
three hundred and forty years, he says it cannot be urged 
" as pertinent to the present business." He might, 
however, have recollected how very prone the Chaldeans, 
Egyptians and Greeks, are said to have been to exag- 
gerate every thing concerning their antiquities, and to 
swell days or months into years. # 

* In a discourse which Bishop Wilkins wrote about one hundred 
and sixty years ago, by which he laboured to prove that the earth was 
a planet, about seventy or eighty pages are 'filled for the purpose of 
persuading his readers, that as, in his opinion, the Hebrews were a 
rude and illiterate people, God, by his messengers, condescended to 
use such expressions as flattered and confirmed tbem in their erro- 
neous and stupid notions concerning natural phenomena. To prove 
which, he makes numerous quotations from, and allusions to, the 
bible, and elaborately comments upon them, for the express purpose 
of showing, that such passages were intended to mean the very 
reverse of what is expressed; or that they are directly opposed by 
philosophical truths. Did the limit which I have prescribed to my 
present undertaking allow me to go into an examination of all his 
fallacies and sophisms, I believe I could easily refute them, but it 
does not: And, besides, I should be trifling with my reader's time 
and patience, were I to enter upon a grave exposure of all the flim- 
sy inanities upon which such a writer thinks proper to exercise his 
ingenuity for the purpose of decoying his unwary readers from the 



149 



Those Hebrew lexicographers, who have adopted the 
solar system, have, in order to reconcile it with the said 

wholesome habits of exercising common sense and common under- 
standing. As a further specimen, however, of the treatment the sa- 
cred books meet with, from both clergy and laity of this sect of phi- 
losophers, I shall quote another passage from the Bishop's book, 
and offer a few remarks upon it, though not directly apposite to 
the present branch of my investigation. 

" Thus likewise because the common people actually think the 
rain to proceed from some waters in the expansum, therefore doth 
Moses, in reference to this erroneous conceit tell us of waters above 
the firmament, and the windows of heaven, of which, saith Calvin, 
such men too servilely tie themselves unto the letter of the text, 
who hence conclude there is a sea in heaven; when as we know 
Moses and the prophets, to accommodate themselves unto ruder 
people, do use a vulgar expression, and therefore it would be a pre- 
posterous course to reduce their phrases unto the exact rules of phi- 
losophy." 

The question is not whether the scriptures teach us exact rules of 
philosophy ; but whether the Maker of the Universe has, in describ- 
ing his own works, truly informed us of what we should otherwise 
have remained in ignorance ? I believe he has, and that all that is 
necessary for man to know respecting the creation and disposition 
of the four elements of earth, water, fire and air, is truly revealed to 
us in Genesis. I have examined the different human systems and I 
cannot find any thing, either in the motions of the heavenly bodies, 
or in the general form of the universe, in the least at variance with 
the account which God has revealed and ordered to be recorded for 
the information and instruction of all ages and all nations. 

With regard to the extraordinary passage just quoted, I positively 
deny that the author of the account of the creation ever countenanc- 
ed an idea of rain proceeding from the water above the firmament, 
but on the contrary expressly mentions the true origin and formation 
of it. As little does the sacred author give reason to conclude, 
that there is a sea in the heaven, but the very reverse ; nor is there 
such an idea revealed in the scriptures, as, windows of heaven. 

In the second chapter of Genesis, after having in the first 
related the order in which all things were created, the author re- 
turns to certain particulars, and gives a more detailed account of 
them; and as if to prevent erroneous notions being entertained 
respecting the source of rain, he expresses himself in part of the fifth 
and following verses in these words " Every herb of the field before 
it grew, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, 



150 



passages of scripture, gone another way to work. They 
profess to have lately discovered what the whole Jewish 

and there was not a man to till the ground ; but there went up a mist 
from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground." The same 
doctrine is confirmed by succeeding divine writers. David says, 
** He causeth the vapours to ascend," &c. And Job, more particularly, 
" According to the vapour the clouds drop and distil upon man abun- 
dantly." The ascent of vapour being generally invisible, I believe 
that even philosophers themselves could not truly have accounted 
for the derivation of rain, had it not been revealed by Him who 
formed it: instead, however, of acknowledging the source of their 
information they have not only omitted to notice these passages, 
but have wilfully and ungenerously endeavoured to pervert and 
misrepresent the matter altogether. 

But although rain is ordinarily produced by the ascent of vapour, 
there is a particular instance mentioned, in Noah's history of the 
deluge, of its descent, on that awful occasion, from the stellar 
reservoirs, which were formed out of that division of the water, 
which, at the creation, we are told, ascended above the firmament. 
The translators of the seventh and eighth chapters of Genesis, by a 
singular mistake, have rendered the word arubeth, " windows." 
** And the windows of heaven were opened." The English word orb, 
is, I think, evidently derived from the Hebrew word arube: and 
therefore if orbs were substituted for windows, the sense would be 
good, and, in that instance, there would no longer be any tenable 
ground for the objection of the sceptics, who are far more gratified 
by the discovery of a single inadvertent fault, than by the inex- 
haustible stores of truth which fill the sacred volume. The word 
arube seems to have a particular reference to an orb, or light of hea- 
ven : and the word chelon to window or lattice. Therefore, the pas- 
sage in question, lam of opinion ought to be read, "And the orbs of 
heaven were opened." Meaning the icy shells or bodies of the stars. 
I have read that the Chinese, who are said to be descended from a 
colony of Egyptians, are even now of opinion, that the stars occa- 
sionally dissolve in rain. And that the Arabians have, at this day, 
an old tradition, that one of the antideluvian kings of Egypt was 
forewarned of the universal deluge, by dreaming that the stars 
descended to the earth, and overwhelmed every thing by their 
force; which I merely notice for the purpose of shewing, that there 
were, in these nations, some indistinct traces of the true know- 
ledge respecting the substance of the stars, and the manner in 
which they contributed to produce the universal deluge. However, 
I leave this point for the decision of the learned, being myself no 



151 



nation were completely ignorant of ; namely, that the 
Hebrew words shemesh and jerich are not expressive of 
the solar and lunar orbs, but of the light flowing from 
them. So that, according to these very curious critics, 
we are not to interpret Joshua's words, " Sun (shemesh,) 
stand or rest over Gibeon, and thou Moon, (jerich,) in 
the direction of the valley of Ajalon;" but we are to 
understand, or express it thus, Solar stream, or flux of 
light, remain thou equable or even upon Gibeon, fyc.!"* 
And, according to the same rule, we are not to read 
(Deut. iv. 19.) "And lest thou lift up thine eyes to 
heaven, and when thou seest the Sun, (shemesh,) and the 
Moon, (jerich,) shouldest be driven to worship them," 
&c; but we are to express it thus; ce and when thou 
seest the solar and lunar fluxes or streams of light, should- 
est be driven to worship them," Sec. This discovery, I 
think, is worthy to be classed with that other notable 
one of a learned Doctor, who some time ago published 
an opinion, grounded upon the Hebrew term, that it 
was not a serpent but a monkey, or an orang-outang, that 
was the instrument employed in the temptation of 
Eve ! About thirty years ago, a mulatto boy, on his first 
arrival from the coast of Africa, was placed under my 
care. The first or second evening after his arrival he 
happened to go out of the house into the yard ; and on 
seeing the moon shining brightly in the firmament, he, 
apparently with the most profound reverence, fell pro- 
strate before it. I was informed by the gentleman, who 

critic in the Hebrew language; I have merely stated my- opinion. 
With regard to the idea, of a sea in the heaven, the ninth and tenth 
verses of the first chapter of Genesis, teach the exact reverse, 
namely, that the sea was formed by the collection of waters under 
the firmament. 

* See Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon. 



152 



had brought him over, that the moon was an object of 
worship in the part of Africa from which he came. It 
was the lunar orb which caught his attention, and not the 
fluxes of reflected light! The learned in all ages, except- 
ing latterly under the solar system, have, I believe, un- 
derstood the terms in question, as signifying, simply, the 
bodies of the two great luminaries, as they appear to us 
in the heaven. Bethshemesh was one of the idolatrous 
cities possessed by the children of Israel on their 
entrance into the promised land; and its name was 
perhaps derived from the object of the people's adora- 
tion — the house, palace, or temple of the sun. Probably 
a similar observation may be applicable to Jericho, as 
being derived from the moon. 

Though I have extended my remarks upon the laws 
of motion and attraction, with the illustrations con- 
nected with them, considerably farther than I intended, 
there are still a few points which my undertaking 
requires to be noticed, because they are objects from 
which philosophers pretend to infer, analogically, that 
the earth is in motion. They boldly assert, that they 
have found a confirmation of it in certain stars, which 
they say are evidently of an oblate form; but who shall 
decide the point when astronomers and opticians dis- 
agree? "This figure," says Dr. Derham, <c they imagine 
is in Jupiter, his polar being to his equatorial diameter, 
as thirty-nine, three-fifths is to forty, three-fifths," (how 
wonderfully exact!) " but whether it be so or no, I 
confess I could never perceive, although I have often 
viewed that planet through very good and long tele- 
scopes, particularly a very good one, of seventy -two feet, 
in my hands; and although by reason of cloudy weather, 
and at present Jupiter's proximity to the sun, I have 
not been of late able to take a review of that planet, yet 



153 



Saturn, so far as his ring would admit, and Mars, 
appear perfectly round through Mr. Huygens' long glass 
of one hundred and twenty -six feet" But, what is rather 
surprising, Dr. Herschell, some years ago, laid before 
the Royal Society an account, accompanied by a 
drawing, which represents Saturn as having the appear- 
ance of a square, or cube, rounded at the corners ! So 
that with respect to the planets, the world, notwith- 
standing the force of the centrifugal motion, and the 
wonders of the telescope, is left in a state of complete 
uncertainty, as to whether they are flatted, oval, cubic, 
or round ! However, in conformity to the theory of 
the motion of the earth, and in support of it, they 
imagine the planets to be flatted, and so the majority 
believe and teach. They observe them moving in their 
courses, and also turning round, (at least so they say, 
though the moon, which is plainly seen, never turns the 
same side from us,) therefore they conclude that the 
earth moves ! 

I have now, I hope, sufficiently considered the funda- 
mental dogmas of the theory of gravity, together with 
the experiments of the string and ball; the rod and 
hoop; the spindle and soft clay; the mop; and lastly 
the millstone and pebble; and the application of them 
in the construction and support of that wonderful 
scheme. What are the effects of their powerful attrac- 
tions and their whirling forces? They gravely tell us, 
that they are constantly altering our days and nights, and 
our winters and summers; that they will finally deprive 
us of the change of the seasons ; that they increase the 
quantity of earth upon our globe; produce constant 
perturbations and disorders among innumerable worlds; 
forming them into irregular groups; flattening them by 

x 



154 



the centrifugal force, to the form of millstones; drown- 
ing them or burning them up; interrupting each other 
in their courses, and dashing one another to atoms; 
worlds producing suns, and suns producing worlds; 
with numerous other operations, all calculated to excite 
wonder and terror amongst their credulous believers. 
But, unfortunately for the credit of these astonishing 
offsprings of philosophical imaginations, the annals of 
the world have never proved the actual occurrence of 
one of them. This objection, to be sure, is provided 
for, in the tranquillising information, that one of these 
accidents or changes, may happen in jf some thousands 
of ages!" I acknowledge, indeed, that such direful 
consequences might be very reasonably expected to 
result from a system built upon the wild principles 
of Sir Isaac Newton, but most assuredly can never 
proceed from that divine order of things, visibly un- 
folded to us in the beautiful and magnificent structure 
of the universe; which, on being finished, and its parts 
separately, as well as collectively, surveyed, was de- 
clared, by the Almighty Creator, to be very Good — 
the work of infinite Wisdom I " Jehovah by Wisdom 
hath founded the earth; by Understanding hath estab- 
lished the heavens" Prov. iii. 19. 

I am amazed that this most extraordinary delusion — 
this opprobrium to reason — has maintained its ground 
so long. Animal magnetism, which was in some 
respects a type of it, very soon met its fate. 

Mesmer, and his pupils, taught that magnetism was 
an universal fluid, diffused through all nature, and the 
medium of all influence between the celestial bodies, and 
between the earth and animal bodies. That there was 
in nature but one disease and one cure, and animal 
magnetism was that cure. 



155 



The Newtonian school teaches, that attraction is a 
something that runs through all nature, so subtile, that it 
penetrates the inmost recesses of all matter in the sun 
and planets; that it is the cause and guardian of all 
their perpetual motions; and that it not only produces 
irregularities amongst them, but likewise at the same 
time exerts its wonderful powers to correct those dis- 
orders. In some respects its operations very far 
transcend those of magnetism, for, according to the 
creed of its believers, it creates and it destroys. Its 
operation one way neutralises its operation in another 
way — it is something, any thing, nothing: — -it is the 
physiological Proteus of philosophers! 

Compared with the reign of Newton's hypothesis, the 
empire of animal magnetism was of short duration; 
principally owing to two very sufficient reasons; for 
some time it spread rapidly, and was very favourably 
received, and might probably have continued in vogue 
to the present time, had it not unluckily interfered with 
the interests of a large and respectable body of men — 
the physicians. Their jealousy was awakened, and being 
joined by the philosophers, they made a formidable and 
successful attack upon it: for, unlike the system of 
gravitation, it had no mathematical veil to cover it; it 
was easy of access; its supporters were therefore soon 
defeated, and, as a natural consequence, their baseless 
fabrick was immediately exploded. 

The chimera, gravity, on the contrary, being em- 
ployed in the celestial region, has little to do with the 
sublunary interests of mankind, excepting so far as it is 
made use of to benefit the speculative and mechanical 
geniuses, who have profited by the temporary distinction 
to which they have been raised, by exciting the wonder 
of their admirers and patrons. On these accounts the 



156 



thing has generally remained unmolested, as well as by 
reason of its being elaborately fortified by a curious 
species of mathematical reasoning, which has rendered it 
unassailable, not only to the great mass of the people, 
but also to the mathematicians themselves, unless 
attacked in the very foundation. In fine, it altogether 
exhibits a wonderful perversion of reason. Like the 
pagans of old, who ascribed to their gods the gross pas- 
sions and infirmities of weak mortals, our modern philo- 
sophers have, with equal folly, impiously laboured to 
place the unsearchable wisdom of the Creator upon a 
level with the grovelling notions of vain mathematicians, 
and the petty operations of spinning mechanics. " To 
whom will ye liken me, saith Jehovah? my thoughts are 
not as your thoughts; neither your ways as my ways: 
for, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my 
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts." Isaiah, 



157 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE THEORIES OF THE ATMOSPHERE, AND VOID 
SPACES FOR PLANETARY MOTION REFUTED BY DECI- 
SIVE FACTS j— THE ACTUAL STATE OF THE OCEAN AN 
IRRESISTIBLE PROOF AGAINST THE THEORIES OF 
THE ATMOSPHERE, GRAVITY, AND EARTHLY MOTION. 



While arranging the elementary materials of the 
Copernican System, it occurred to the framers of it, that 
air, such as we breathe upon the surface of the earth, if 
co-extensive with the planetary orbits, would most 
effectually prevent the machine from going; that their 
imaginary worlds flying through it, with the incredible 
velocities ascribed to them, would experience such a 
mighty resistance, as would inevitably sweep every thing 
from their surfaces; or rather shiver them to pieces, and 
disperse them as dust. They therefore found it neces- 
sary to assert, that, what is termed the atmosphere, 
extended no more than about forty-five miles from 
the surface of the globe; and that the earth carries it 
about, comparatively, as a man carries his coat. That 
beyond this airy coat is what Sir Isaac Newton called 
the aetherial regions — a perfect vacuum, or what 
amounts to nearly the same thing, through which the 
earth, without experiencing any sensible resistance, 
moves with its atmosphere one hundred and forty one 
times more rapidly than a cannon ball ! and of course, 
that whether drops of water, or air balloons, be floating 



158 



about in it, they are carried forward with the same 
velocity as the point of a solid rock ! 

To invent such plausible reasons as would give cur- 
rency to this extraordinary hypothesis was a point of 
paramount importance; and they accordingly produced 
the delusive experiments of the barometer to show that 
the air gravitated, and that it decreased in density 
according to the increase of distance from the surface of 
the earth, by a certain mathematical ratio: so that 
according to Newton's calculation a globe containing an 
inch of such air as we breathe on the surface of the earth, 
if rarified to what he pretends to demonstrate it to be at the 
distance of four thousand miles above our heads, it would 
fill all the planetary regions of the solar system, as far as 
Saturn at least ! Here is a notable instance of this cele- 
brated philosopher's expansive imagination: it proves 
what fine ideas the brain, with the aid of mathematics, 
can spin out, when exercised in the freaks of fancy. 
Upon similar principles of calculation M. Amontons, in 
a paper which he laid before the French Royal Academy, 
observed that air might be compressed so as to be ren- 
dered heavier than gold, or platina; and imagined that 
the centre of the earth contained a sphere of about six 
thousand, four hundred and fifty-one fathoms of air com- 
pressed to a density superior to that of any known sub- 
stance! He further imagined, that the earthquakes 
which occasionally convulse the globe are caused by air 
so compressed, being occasionally expanded by the heat 
of subterraneous fires! Such speculations as these are 
reckoned wonderfully sublime and profound; and if a 
man attempt to reason against them, our intolerant 
philosophers immediately cry out, that he is insane and 
that he ought to be cloathed in a strait jacket ! I shall 
however risk the imputation and consider the subject 



159 



apart from their theoretical expansions and compressions, 
as its effects appear in the operations of nature. 

Philosophers almost unvaryingly confound the elas- 
ticity, or spring of the air, with its weight, and accord- 
ingly conclude, that a base of an inch square supports a 
column of air of fifteen pounds weight; and by the same 
rule a middle-sized man is constantly pressed by about 
fifteen tons of air ! Now if that be true, how is it that a 
man exists when, by mounting aloft in a balloon, until 
the barometer falls to ten or twelve inches, the pressure 
upon him, according to that rule, is suddenly reduced 
two-thirds, or about ten tons ? When Mr. Robertson 
ascended at Hamburgh, a few years ago, it does not 
appear that he bursted or even experienced any inconve- 
nience whatever, from that cause, although the quicksilver 
in his barometer sunk as low as twelve inches and a half. 
Mr. Baldwin, too, when he ascended from Chester, in the 
year 1785, expressly mentions, that he experienced no 
inconvenience whatever ; nor did Mr. Brydone when on 
the summit of Etna; the French on the Andes; or Dr. 
Heberden on the peak of Teneriffe. Others I admit are 
said to have experienced some difficulty of breathing 
when placed in elevated situations; but what does that 
prove? Not an increase of rarity, but the reverse. Dr. 
Fletcher, formerly an English envoy at the court of Rus- 
sia, states, that when you there pass out of a warm room 
into a cold one, you will " sensibly feel your breath to 
wax stark and even stifling with the cold as you draw it 
in and out." The same sensation is mentioned by the 
French philosophers as felt by them at Tornea ; in breath- 
ing they said their breasts seemed to be rent. The expe- 
rience of every one proves that breathing is more difficult 
in frosty weather, when the density of the air is increased 
by cold, than in warm weather when it is rarified by heat. 



160 



I consider air to be a simple, homogeneous fluid, 
created quite distinct from water or any other substance;* 
and formed into a body as expressed in the sixth and 
seventh verses of the first chapter of Genesis, for the 
purpose of continuing the motions of inanimate bodies 
in the heaven, and to preserve and promote the existence 
and growth of animal and vegetable bodies on the earth; 
to give articulation to sounds ; to enable us to sail upon 
the ocean and for other beneficial purposes. I consider 
that its pressure, apart from motion, is equal in all 
directions; that it gravitates no more downwards than it 
does upwards : and that all the changes that are observ- 
ed in the state of its pressure, are caused by the increase, 
or decrease, of motion, heat, or the weight of earthy or 
watery substances which float in it near the surface of 
the globe. Mr. Bruce when at Yambo, Jidda, and 
Loheia, on the coast of the Red Sea, found the quick- 
silver in the barometer three to five inches lower than it 

* My opiuion of the atmosphere is supported by that of William 
Jones, F. R. S. in his phisiological disquisitions, which I have pe- 
rused since writing the above ; he states as follows. 

" The various parts which enter into this compound fluid of the 
atmosphere, have perplexed the subject to such a degree with those 
who have undertaken to study the nature of the air, that some have 
supposed the nature of the air to be nothing but water rarified, 
others nothing but salt of some kind in another form. Thus we 
might dispute about wine, beer and spirits, till we had lost sight of 
the element of water; but here we are in less danger, because 
water is a grosser fluid, and more obvious in its simple form. When 
all other parts are removed which enter into the composition of the 
atmosphere, there certainly remains a fluid, which is the vehicle and 
substratum of them all: in so much that if there were neither earth, 
nor salt, nor oil, nor sulphur, nor water, still there would be that 
air, which gives motion to the lungs and is the spring of animal life. 
This simple fluid is the first object of enquiry to those who consider 
the nature of the air; and the properties of air, which arise from the 
mixture of other things with it, are to be regarded rather as acci- 
dents than properties." 



161 



is generally found in England; and in particular at 
Jidda, which is nearly on a level with the surface of the 
Red Sea, it stood at the same height as it does upon the 
top of the mountain of Snowdon in Wales, which is 
estimated at one thousand two hundred yards above the 
level of the sea. Now I am of opinion that so great a 
difference in the pressure of the air, in those two situa- 
tions, must be entirely owing to the difference of the 
climates : the atmosphere of the former being dry, and 
that of Wales, on the contrary, humid : the air in the 
latter part being loaded with watery particles, of course 
gives it a greater pressure downwards. Boerhaave, I 
think, is of opinion, that the gravity of the air depends 
entirely upon the water and other substances floating 
in it. 

At the point to which Mr. Robertson ascended it ap- 
pears, that about three-fifths of the pressure upon the 
barometer was by some cause taken off: a Newtonian 
will ask, how could so great a change have happened, if 
the air was there increased in density ? I think, it is 
easily accounted for. At that elevation both the humidity 
and warmth were greatly diminished. The elasticity of air 
is much increased by the operation of heat upon the 
water mixed with it, as is plainly evident in the cylinder 
of a fire engine. Mr. Robertson says he could obtain 
little or no signs of electricity; — little or no heat to 
warm and increase the spring of the air;* it was, there- 
fore, comparatively torpid, but it does not follow that it 
was less dense. If not less dense, the same philoso- 
phers will ask, why then does not the balloon continue 
to rise above a certain elevation ? I reply, for the same 
reasons that vapours cannot rise above a certain height. 

* " It does not appear that there is a single experiment to evince 
any elasticity in air, independent of fire." Jones's Physiological Disq. 

Y 



162 



Like a warm bubble in water, it is forced upward 
while it has a humid atmosphere to pass through, 
and also until its included warm air cools, and then it 
begins to descend. 

But although the air in elevated regions, for the reasons 
I have mentioned, does not possess the elastic force 
that it does near the surface, it is not on that account the 
less dense; on the contrary, it is more buoyant, as are 
oil, quicksilver, &c. when in a freezing state; though I 
do not suppose, with Fourcroy and Lavoisier, that the 
absence of fire would change it from a fluid to a solid 
consistency. It is owing to the strength of its buoyancy 
that it is capable of sustaining such immense collections 
of water, in a fluid as well as in a congealed state. This 
appears to have been the philosophy of the ancients 
upon that point. " He binds up the waters," (says 
Job,) " in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent 
under them." — " By his great power," (says the son of 
Sirac,) he maketh the clouds firm, and the hailstones are 
broken small." In this state the buoyant air, in spite of 
the Newtonian gravity, supports them, until the fire, or 
electric fluid, as it is termed, by rarifying, or shaking 
the air in which clouds are formed and suspended, sets 
their contents at liberty to fall to the ground. ee In the 
month of June," says Dr. Wallace, in his account of 
Orkney, " after great thunder, there fell flakes of ice 
nearly a foot thick." Many such accounts are on record. 
Those vast collections of water, suspended in the air, 
which at times suddenly burst over places and sweep 
every moveable thing before them, could not possibly be 
supported and carried along by thin air, such as we 
breathe. For philosophers to assert such a thing is 
extremely absurd; it looks something like imposition; 
and to believe it, must be bigotted credulity. Wonder- 



163 



ful is the supension of clouds! "Give ear to this," 
(says God to the philosophic Job,) " stand still and 
consider the wonders of God. Dost thou know the 
balancings of the thick clouds, the wonderful things of 
him who is perfect in knowledge?" 

Philosophers labour to explain these phenomena in 
different ways : one of which is, that air and water are 
reciprocally transformed into each other, by the agency 
and operation of electricity! But will they assert, that air 
is transformed into cinders and stones, or that they can 
produce any such substances lighter than air? If they 
cannot, how will they account for volcanic stones and 
cinders being carried seven hundred miles by air, which 
they contend is far more rarified than that which we 
breathe? Ammianus Marcellinus, a Greek historian, 
affirms, that cinders, from an eruption of Vesuvius, were 
carried as far as Constantinople. Kircher likewise 
relates, that, from a volcanic eruption from the sea, near 
the island of Thesa, in the Archipelago, multitudes of 
pumice, and other stones, were likewise carried to 
Constantinople, and to other places at a great distance. 
Other similar facts might be adduced; but I suppose 
these are sufficient to prove, that the air upwards does 
not diminish in density according to modern theory; 
but, on the contrary, its buoyancy a few miles above the 
earth, either from its own nature, or from the limited 
operation of attraction, is sufficiently powerful to support 
bodies in motion, without the imaginary aid of centri- 
fugal and centripetal laws. In this view I am 3 in some 
measure, supported by the opinion of Lord Bacon, who in 
his Sylva Sylvarum observes, that " the interstellar sky, 
though the opinion be vain, that the star is the denser 
part of his orb, hath, notwithstanding, so much affinity 



164 



with the star, that there is a rotation of that as well as 
the star."* 

From all these considerations, and many others equally 
obvious, 1 conclude, that Newton's doctrine of an un- 
resisting medium for his worlds to fly through, ought to 
be exploded ; because unsupported by reason, scripture, 
the opinions of wise men, or the experimental operations 
of nature itself, f 

* I am, however, of opinion, that air is buoyant by the rapidity 
of its motion, as well as by the density of its nature. We know, by 
experience, that a high wind will carry substances a considerable 
distance, which, in a calm, would instantly fall to the earth. 

f Mr. O'Gallagher, though a supporter of the Solar System, was 
evidently no convert to the fictitious expedients which the Newto- 
tonians have employed in the establishment of that system. He says, 
page 91, 

"It would not here be an impertinent enquiry to ask, why the vis 
inertias of matter has been rendered so universal by those very phi- 
losophers, who make the active power of attraction equally general? 
Or why they are so tenacious of that torpid property, which seems 
inconsistent with the operations of nature ? The vis inertia of 
matter, according to these philosophers, implies a sluggish force 
therein, which resists motion. This resistance, they say, is in 
proportion to the quantity of matter, or to the vis inertia of what 
stands in the way or passage of the moving body,- whence we 
are to understand, that where motion is perpetual, there can 
be no resistance, i. e. according to this doctrine, no matter, but 
a perfect vacuum. Hence we see that the vis inertia of matter 
seems to induce the necessity of a vacuum in the planetary spaces ; 
that property is therefore the greatest support of the reigning 
system, and should be obstinately defended by all who undertake to 
maintain a vacuum. But this tenet is as contrary to our knowledge 
and experience in nature, as the inertness upon which it is founded, is 
inconsistent with her operations. For the body of an animal is 
not a vacuum, yet the circulation of its blood, and other fluids, is 
constant and regular. A vacuum is not necessary in the sea, to 
facilitate the motions of fishes and ships; on the contrary, this fluid 
is to both a vehicle; nor could birds or clouds move in the air, 
without a corresponding vehicle. Should not the planets, therefore, 
according to Newton's second rule of philosophising, to wit, that 
like effects should have like causes, have some medium, or vehicle for 
their motions? Would not such a medium be more analagous to the 



165 



The moderns, having found it convenient to adopt 
the Greek opinion of Posidonius, respecting the height 
of the air above the earth, were at no loss, in their usual 
way, to find a plausible mathematical theory, to give 
weight and consistency to that opinion; but, like 
almost every other part of the system, it is delusive — 
it will not stand the test of close examination. The 
supporters of that old theory, seem not to have duly 

other works and motions of nature; and also more consistent with 
infinite Power and Wisdom, than a vacuum ? If philosophers can 
thus depart from analogy, by what means shall they come to the 
knowledge of things that are beyond the reach of their senses and 
experience ? By what rules shall they erect a system of physics ? 
If analogy, grounded on experience, is not attended to, according 
to that fourth rule which Newton established, in order to exclude 
conclusions arising from hypotheses, and to admit none but those 
founded on experiment, their systems must be in a great measure ideal 
and imaginary. Doubtless then the necessity must have been insur- 
mountably great, which has thus obliged them to step aside from the 
hnown course of nature ; and to depart so far from the scientific 
train of analogy, as to lose sight of the principles and vehicles of 
motion they had, and have in constant and universal experience. 
This necessity seems to have proceeded from the admission of some 
principle which is probably as erroneous, as its consequences are false. 
This principle can be no other than gravity, which is held forth as 
the primum mobile of nature, or the chief agent which carries on and 
preserves the planetary motions. Gravity is defined the power and 
force, &c. by which bodies near the earth tend to its centre, and 
planets to the sun. Some say it is a universal property of matter, 
but Newton declares he does not take it for an essential property. 
Some persons will have it peculiar to matter, and yet will have it act 
with full force in vacuo; almost all agree in making it the course of 
nature's operations; yet no one has determined its particular resi- 
dence, adequate substance, or peculiar essence; but when they 
are urged for its particular nature and residence, they give the 
universal salvo, that God made it, that, according to His divine 
ordinance, it obtains in nature, and is the cause of her motions. 
Thus, contrary to our axioms, which were deduced from principles 
grounded on the works of the Omnipotent Creator, and which are 
quite conformable to infinite wisdom; material effects and operations 
are admitted without a material cause or agent, a power without an 
adequate principle, and an essence without its proper substance," 



166 



considered the reflection of light from one mass of 
vapour to another 5 had they done so, they would have 
found, that an elevation of humid vapour, (which is that 
which reflects the light,) to the height of two or three 
miles, is quite sufficient to account for the appearance 
of day-break an hour, or an hour and a half before sun- 
rising. LetL represent the centre of the earth;* GFDB 
a part of its surface; and ACEI the upper part of the 
atmosphere, or the greatest elevation to which vapour 
ascends: at the moment of day-break the sun is said to 
be about eighteen degrees below the horizon; equal, in 
these latitudes, to about 650 miles on the surface of the 
earth. But the quantity of the angle must greatly vary 
according to the latitudes, and to the sun's declination ; 
suppose the mean, however to be 18°, and the greatest 
rise of the vapour to be three miles, then supposing the 
semidiameter of the globe to be 3600 geographical miles, 
what would be the distance of a mass of vapour, at that 
elevation, in the eastern point of the horizon from another 
mass at the same elevation in the western point of the 
horizon ? 

As LC 3603 3.556664 

Is to radius 10. 

So is LB 3600 3.556302 

To LCB 87. 39. 59. 9.999638 

which deducted from 90° there remains 2° 20' l" for the 
angle BLC. The side C B is found as follows : 

As LCB 87. 39. 59. 9.99963S 

Is to LB 3600 3.556302 

So is BLC 2. 20. I. 8.609785 

ToCB 147 miles 2.166449 

* See Plate, figure I. 



167 



which doubled, is 294 miles — the distance required: 
and supposing the first appearance of day-break to be 
produced by three reflections, namely, from A, (where 
the vapour receives the sun's direct rays) to C; from C 
to E; and from E to I; these three distances added 
together, make 882 miles — about 20° of longitude on the 
parallel of 45°. Geographers are not agreed, whether 
the first appearance of day-break be when the sun is 
16°, 18°, or 20°, below the horizon; it depends, as I have 
said, upon the latitude and declination. This may serve 
to give some idea of the degrees of light reflected at the 
same moment to persons stationed at the points B, D, F, 
and G, in a westerly direction, two hundred and ninety- 
four miles from each other, which must be exactly the 
same as to an observer at B, when viewing the eastern 
point of the horizon, at three intervals of about half an 
hour each, more or less, (according to the latitude of the 
place,) from day-break to a few minutes before sun-rising. 
This is nearly the same view which I had of this subject 
about seventeen years ago, as expressed in my reply to 
Mr. Banks; since that time I have seen Varonius's Geo- 
graphy, and find that my solution of this problem differs 
very little from the one contained in the thirty-eighth 
proposition of his nineteenth chapter. I do not, 
however, agree with him, that the rays of light are 
reflected from particles of air, but from water floating in 
the air. 

Having now considered the theories of motion, gravi- 
tation, and the atmosphere, I must candidly own, that it 
required a genius far above the common standard to give 
apparent coherence and form to these discordant mate- 
rials; and I am induced to believe, that no man then in 
existence, except Newton, could have accomplished the 
work so effectually; or so successfully deluded the 



168 



credulity of so many millions of people into an implicit 
belief of its reality and truth: nor could he alone, emi- 
nent as he was for mathematical knowledge, have given 
currency to such a system of extravagant conceptions 
had he not been favoured by circumstances : but it was 
adopted in the college, recommended from the profes- 
sor's chair, and broached at a period when the learned 
were peculiarly addicted to the pursuits of abstract 
reasoning. There is, however, one point so glaringly 
defective, that it is really surprising how the most heed- 
less of his believers could have passed it over without 
detection. After having laboured hard, for about one 
hundred and forty years, to balance and compact the 
elementary parts of the system, they have been so 
astonishingly remiss, as to leave the ocean to the uncon- 
trolled operation of three mighty forces, which would, 
in the first hour of the earth's motion, have completely 
swept it out of its bed, had not the Creator wisely 
ordered the matter otherwise. 

These philosophers, in general, utterly contemn all 
miracles, excepting such as are necessary to keep their 
own delusive system from explosion. I have, I hope 
sufficiently proved that Newton's idea of a vacuum is an 
unfounded conceit; that on the contrary the space, even 
from the earth to the shining masses of frozen water 
called fixed stars, is filled with a body of strong buoyant 
air termed the firmament; in which, according to the 
first chapter of Genesis, God in the beginning placed the 
luminaries of heaven: now those who have witnessed 
the effects of a storm of wind upon the ocean, which 
wind, even in a hurricane, is not supposed to move with 
a velocity greater than one hundred and forty miles in an 
hour, may easily conceive what would be the consequence 
to the ocean if the earth moved through the firma- 



169 



A 



ment at the rate imagined by the Newtonians, namely, 
68,000 miles an hour — 500 times quicker than a hurri- 
cane! Surely nothing but a miracle, far greater than 
the one mentioned in Joshua, about which they are 
so extremely squeamish, could in such a case prevent 
every drop of water, with every other light and moveable 
thing, from being swept off from the face of the earth. 

But, if in the face of all evidence to the contrary, both 
human and divine, we were to admit Newton's doctrine 
of void spaces for planetary motion ; that admission, even 
supposing it to be well grounded, would by no means 
secure the ocean from the effects of their own centrifugal 
and projectile forces. Let us now compare them with 
the motion and force of gravity, and see how far they 
will balance in the scales of their system. The force 
which, according to Newton, causes a body, (suppose 
a bladder filled with water) near the surface of the 
earth, to fall about sixteen feet in one second of time, 
is that which presses the ocean to its bed — that is the 
force of gravity. Now the power operating with that 
specific force upon the ocean, supposing the earth to 
move, is exactly crossed by another force on the equator 
above ninety times greater, namely the centrifugal, or 
rotatory motion of the earth, said to be upwards of 
1500 feet in a second. Were the two forces equally 
balanced, the thing might appear plausible and go down 
tolerably well; but as the matter is represented, no- 
thing but a great miracle could prevent the water from 
flying off the surface of the earth, as it does off a 
potter's wheel, the moment the centrifugal motion of 
that wheel overbalances the gravity of the water lying 
upon its surface. But that is not all; we have still to 
notice the projectile force of the globe, which is calcu- 

z 



170 



lated at 100,000 feet in a second; that is, 6000 times 
the force that presses the ocean to its bed, as afore- 
said; which inconceivable velocity would, in eight 
minutes of time, completely separate the globe from 
the ocean ; comparatively as a shallow plate, if filled with 
water, would, by a quick horizontal motion, instantly be 
emptied of its contents and leave them behind. Yet 
under all the supposed influences of these powerful 
forces, operating in various directions, the ocean does 
not afford a'l^M^evidence of their actual existence: — 
the reason is sufficiently evident; like the wonders of 
Gulliver, they exist no where but in imagination and 
upon paper. 

The Solar System could never have obtained currency, 
had not Galileo, or some such genius, succeeded in 
establishing the extraordinary belief, that the globe in its 
rapid motion carries along with it the circumambient air. 
The second dialogue, in his system of the world, (in 
which his theory of motion is discussed,) is the most 
elaborate part of his performance, and, taking it altoge- 
ther, it certainly is a most extraordinary tissue of sophis- 
try. The parts assigned to his imaginary companions in 
debate, Simplicius and Sagredus, are drawn up with 
considerable art. Plato, in his dialogue between Pro- 
tagoras the sophist and Socrates, brings off simplicity 
and truth victorious. Here, however, Simplicius, though 
supported by nature and truth, appears to make but a 
feeble resistance; while the false colourings of Sagredus 
are so managed as to give plausibility to Salviatus's 
(Galileo's) sophistry, comparatively as base foil, used by 
jewellers, gives to worthless substances the appearance 
of precious stones. 

He must be a very weak Simplicius indeed, who could 
be brought to believe, that a ball, (shot upwards from a 



171 



cannon erected perpendicularly,) under the influence of 
three contrary and very powerful forces, could ever 
regain the point from which it was projected; namely, 
first, the force of gravity said to be sixteen feet in a 
second; secondly the force of the earth's vertiginous 
motion, 1500 feet in a second; and thirdly the force of 
the annual motion, about 100,000 feet in the same space 
of time. But Galileo had a short way of getting over 
such objections, by asserting, that all these motions 
were natural to the ball in common with the earth! And 
that the only thing to be considered, was the force 
communicated by the powder which was not natural to 
the ball! Were he now living he would no doubt apply 
similar arguments to the motion of a balloon; — that it 
is perfectly natural for a balloon, though detached a 
mile from the earth, to be carried round, according to 
the diurnal motion, 1042 miles an hour; while at the 
same time, it is carried in a different direction at the rate 
of 68,000 miles an hour ! 

Galileo weakly imagined, that on land all the air above 
its surface, and below the tops of the mountains, was 
made to partake of the earth's diurnal motion by the 
ruggedness of its surface, and by the water and other 
matter hanging in it; but on the ocean between the 
tropics he said it was otherwise ; there he contended, that 
the trade winds blowing from the east furnished a proof 
of the daily motion of the earth in a contrary direction. 

Simplicius however very naturally remarked, that it 
equally proved the converse of the proposition, namely 
the daily motion of the heaven. But it proves neither 
the one nor the other, for, the monsoons in the East 
Indies which blow about six months in an easterly direc- 
tion, and the other six months in a westerly direction, 



172 



exactly balance or neutralize the argument. Had he 
stated this fact, it would have spoiled his fine theory, and 
therefore he did not think proper to introduce it into the 
discussion. It must be admitted, that the Newtonian 
theory of the atmosphere, is far more plausible than 
Galileo's. 



173 



CHAPTER IX. 

SCIENCE OF OPTICS KNOWN MANY HUNDRED YEARS 
ANTERIOR TO THE TIME OF GALILEO, THOUGH NOT 
EMPLOYED TO DISCOVER EARTHS IN HEAVEN;— NEW- 
TONIAN MAXIMS OVERTURNED BY THE OBSERVA- 
TIONS OF MR. BALDWIN IN HIS AERIAL VOYAGE FROM 
CHESTER, BY THE DARK NATURE OF EARTHLY BODLES, 
AND BY THE EVIDENCE EXHIBITED IN THE STARS. 



It is the boast of those philosophers who proclaim the 
glory of the Solar System, that its millions of worlds 
have been revealed to them principally through the tele- 
scope, and that the want of such an instrument kept the 
ancients in almost total ignorance of the true system of 
the world. The moderns as if forgetful, that the ele- 
ments of all useful knowledge, of every good and per- 
fect gift, were primarily derived from the Creator himself, 
seem constantly anxious to depreciate the knowledge and 
the skill of the ancients, as if to make room for their 
own exaltation and praise. 

The mathematical sceptics, and some of the sceptical 
poets who imbibed their doctrines, seem to have formed 
an impious league, for the purpose of alienating the 
minds of men from the Great First Cause. Some 
of them have manifested their views in tolerably plain 
terms; others more obscurely; and they have, at last, 
succeeded in raising doubts, in the minds of many, as to 
whether we ought any longer to consider Him as the 
Creator of the Universe; the Mover of it; the Moral 
Governor of the nations; or, the Divine Instructor of 



174 



man. The world, which He has abundantly proved, by 
His revelations, and by His providence, to be under His 
own peculiar care, is now represented as being a mere 
insignificant point in the universe; and it is intimated, 
that mankind have, by some means, been placed upon 
it, and left to labour and grope their way in the dark as 
well as they can. In the scale of animal existence, 
they even place man below the brutes and the reptiles. 
That elegant, but most insidious, piece of sophistry, the 
Essay on Man, has, amongst other things equally 
remarkable, the following passage. 
" See him from nature rising slow to art; 
To copy instinct then was reason's part: 
Thus then to man the voice of nature spake, 
Go, from the creatures thy instruction take; 
Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield; 
Learn from the beasts the physic of the field; 
Thy arts of building from the bee receive; 
Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave; 
Learn of the little nautilus to sail;" — &c. 

Great Nature spake; observant man obeifd, 
Cities were built; societies were made. — &c." 
To comment at large upon this farrago of falsehood, 
would be time lost. He ought, however, to have sent 
man to the hog for knowledge in ploughing, and to the 
mole for knowledge in mining; to the spider for infor- 
mation in weaving, and to the worm for instruction how 
to spin. This revelation of Pope is in direct contradic- 
tion to the revelations of God. For, according to the 
former, man, in his primitive state, was sent to school 
to the beasts, fowls, vermin, insects, and fishes, for the 
purpose of learning the arts of civilization ; that man 
was the only creature placed upon the earth in a destitute 
and forlorn condition ; even him, concerning whom it 



175 



it was said, <e Thou hast made him a little lower than the 
angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. 
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of 
thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.'' 
The philosophers would draw him entirely away from a 
knowledge of his high origin, and of his glorious desti- 
nation; and, like the syrens of Homer, they incessantly 
labour to allure him from a state of safety on the ocean of 
truth,and to draw him to certain destruction on the rocks 
and the shoals of their own delusive sophistry. Let him 
once lose the knowledge of his high estate : let him 
believe in the oracles of Pope; go for knowledge to his 
university of brutes ; look to his Moloch, who, he assures 
us, in direct contradiction to the gospel, 

— sees with equal eye, as God of all, 

A hero perish, or a sparrow fall; 
and he will then become ready food for the devouring 
sword, or a fit instrument for the most flagitious crimes. 
He will be estimated according to his physical powers 
and his capabilities for destruction. Their false philo- 
sophy, in process of time, if not checked in its progress, 
will actually reduce him to a state even below the con- 
dition of the untutored savage in the wilderness; for he, 
under all the disadvantages of his state, continues to 
retain some knowledge of the existence and providence 
of his Creator: The true philosopher knows, and will 
always bear in mind, that God was not only the author 
of his being, but likewise the source from which he 
derived the rudiments of all those arts which are neces- 
sary for the comfort, preservation, and even for the em- 
bellishments of society. The very nature, and actual 
condition of human society at the present time, evidently 
prove it ; and this most important truth is completely 
confirmed by divine history from the beginning to the 



176 



conclusion. I now proceed from this short digression, 
to the subject with which I commenced this chapter. 

Mr. Waller, the publisher of Dr. Hook's works, which 
he dedicated to Sir Isaac Newton in a particular essay, 
expressed his opinion, that " the ancients were wholly 
ignorant of refracting burning-glasses, except spheres, 
and therefore that it was no strange thing that they had 
neither telescopes nor microscopes, both which noble 
inventions have discovered * new worlds to the last and 
present age." Another writer, alluding to Archimedes's 
burning glasses, goes so far as to assert, that u it must be 
absurd to pretend, that the ancients had the knowledge 
of compound burning-glasses, such as consist of pieces of 
plain looking-glass put together in the manner of the one 
invented by Mr. Buffon; for this supposes, that they had 
not only the art of making large concave speculums ; but 
also, that they understood the art of making and foliating 
looking-glasses, nothing of which appears from history, 
or is worthy the belief of any judicious person." 

That the ancients never carried the art of making 
optical glasses, or telescopes, to a pitch of improvement 
equal to that of the moderns, is, I believe, perfectly true; 
but it does not thence follow, that they were entirely igno- 
rant of the nature and use of such instruments. A greater 
demand, and of course more extensive practice, have ren- 
dered the moderns more perfect in this line than the 
ancients were. The ancients, for example, excelled in 
sculpture, because, as they worshipped the works of their 
own hands, the craft was esteemed honorable, and excited 
great emulation, under the idea, that the names of the 
artists would, with the images and temples which con- 
tained them, continue to be the admiration and praise of 

* The merit of this discovery certainty belonged to the Greeks : 
Diogenes Laertius states that Anaxagoras held, that the moon was 
covered with hills, vales, and water, and was inhabited. 



177 



future ages, and give a sort of immortality to their fame. 
In a plurality of images, exquisitely formed, they then as 
fervently contemplated a plurality of gods, as the New- 
tonians in these days, when viewing through their long 
tubes the crystalline bodies in the heavens, firmly be- 
lieve, that they are really beholding a plurality of worlds. 
They fancy, or pretend to fancy, that they discover upon 
those luminous bodies, mountains, seas, clouds, snow, 
lightning, smoke, volcanic fires, and, at times, in the 
case of Jupiter, the conflagration of whole continents! 
They, however, do not affirm, that they have discovered 
plants and animals, but, on the contrary, very gravely 
express an opinion, that instruments cannot possibly be 
brought to such a degree of perfection ! 

Now, it is worth while to enquire, what are the apparent 
dimensions of the body upon which our astronomers 
profess to survey tremendous volcanoes ? The diameter 
of the moon occupies an angle equal to a third of an inch 
placed one yard from the eye. How far it would be 
possible to survey burning mountains, (suppose such 
existed in the moon,) upon a surface of that extent, 
however swelled by deceptive optics, I leave every 
thoughtful enquirer to judge. Suppose the glass 
to magnify a thousand times, the diameter would then 
appear to be about twelve inches. Suppose then this 
twelve inches to be the miniature of a body of about 2200 
miles in diameter; the forty thousandth part of an inch, 
at a yard's distance, would, in such case, be a space 
representing a volcano of one mile in diameter, at the 
supposed distance of 240,000 miles ! But it is by no 
means inconsistent for those mathematicians, who write 
about motion in a point, to assert, that their optics enable 
them to discover volcanic appearances upon a surface of 
a forty thousandth part of an inch, placed one yard from 

2 A 



178 



the eye! I conclude that such appearances are only to 
be seen, as one of them shrewdly remarks, " by the 
prying eyes of an astronomer," 

When it is considered what an extensive and lucrative 
branch of trade is carried on in the manufacture of 
telescopes, principally owing to the diligent search made 
by the curious after worlds of wonders in the sky, it is 
not surprising that the moderns excel the ancients in 
the dimensions and perfection of optical glasses; but in 
the event of men becoming convinced, as I expect they 
will, that the planets are only congelations of water, 
much money and time will, in that case, no doubt be 
saved, and, I hope, be applied to purposes of greater 
benefit and utility to the public: and the artisans 
employed in that trade, will, I trust, be able to transfer 
their ingenuity to objects equally advantageous to them- 
selves, and of far greater importance to the community 
at large. 

I must, however, remark, that the ancients were not 
quite so ignorant of optical glasses as the modern 
philosophers seem disposed to represent. The asser- 
tion of the writer, which I have quoted, denies that the 
ancients had a knowledge of the construction of burning 
glasses, or the art of making looking-glasses, does not 
appear to be founded on truth. Besides, what history 
relates of the burning reflectors of Archimedes; it is 
affirmed by one Anthemius, an architect, who wrote in 
the days of the Emperor Justinian, that the great 
mathematician, Proclus, destroyed the fleet of Vitellius, 
when at the siege of Constantinople, by a compound 
burning-glass, or reflector, and he particularly describes 
the instrument. It is also recorded, that by similar 
means, the Emperor Leo, about the year 709, burned 
part of the Saracen fleet. 



179 



Concerning the article, glass, Pliny says, " Some of it 
with the blast of the mouth is fashioned into what form 
the workman pleases. Other parcels polished with the 
turner's instrument; and some again is engraven, chased, 
and embossed in manner of silver plates; in all which 
arts the Sidonians in times past were famous artificers; 
for at Sidon were devised mirrors or looking-glasses." 

Nor were the ancients ignorant of refracting burning- 
glasses. Aristophanes, in the Comedy of the Clouds, in 
ridicule, represents Socrates examining Strepsides about 
the method he had discovered of getting clear of his 
debts, and, as saying, " I thought of making use of a 
burning-glass, which I had hitherto used in kindling my 
fire; for, should they bring a writ against me, I will 
immediately place my glass in the sun, at some little 
distance from the writ, and set it on fire." 

Coming down a few centuries later, history mentions 
a certain character who could construct magnifying- 
glasses of considerable power, but for such a scandalous 
purpose, that I shall pass over his name. Our own 
countryman, Roger Bacon, (according to Dr. Plott, in 
his History of Oxfordshire,) wrote a book of perspective 
almost six hundred years ago, which proves, that the 
learned friar well understood most kinds of optical 
glasses; but there is one passage, in particular, which is 
so directly to the point, that I shall here insert it. 
" Greater things," says Bacon, " are performed if the 
vision be refracted; for it is easily made appear, that the 
greatest things may be represented less, and little things 
as the greatest, and that things afar off may be repre- 
sented near; thus we can make the sun, moon, and 
stars, to all appearance, to come down as here below," 
&c. The next, in order of time, that I have met with, 
who notices this subject, is the book of Henry Cornelius 



180 



Agrippa, On tlte Vanity of the Arts and Sciences, 
published more than half a century anterior to Galileo's 
construction of telescopes. Adverting to optics, he 
observes, " This art much conduces to the under- 
standing of the variety of celestial bodies, their distances, 
magnitudes," &c. He mentions, likewise, " experi- 
ments being daily made in the various kinds of glasses, 
hollow, convex, plain, pillar-fashioned, pyramidal, 
globular, gibbous, full of angles, inverted, everted, 
regular, irregular, solid, perspicuous, glasses to make 
little things appear great; things afar off, near; camera 
obscuras," &c. 

The Neapolitan philosopher, John Baptista Porta, 
wrote a book expressly on optics and optical instru- 
ments, many years, I believe, before the pretended 
discoveries of either Jansen or Galileo. u A philo- 
sopher," says Porta, " must be skilled in optics, that he 
may know how the sight may be deceived; how to make 
one see that plainly which is a great way off; and how 
to throw fire very far from us." And in another place; 
" I call lenticulars, portions of circles compacted together 
of concaves and convexes; with a convex you shall see 
small things afar off very clearly; with a concave, things 
nearer to be greater, but more obscurely; if you know 
how to fit them both together, you shall see both 
afar off and near at hand, both greater and clearer." 
This writer treats the subject mathematically, and 
teaches how to grind burning-glasses of parabolic and 
other forms. 

In the twelfth volume of the Biographical Dictionary, 
published in the year 1784, it is mentioned under the 
name Ptolemy, that Mabillon, in his German Travels, 
exhibits a figure of Ptolemy looking at the stars through 
an optical tube, which effigy he said he found in a 



181 



manuscript of the thirteenth century, and was done by 
one Conradus, a monk. I may add, in addition to these 
historical notices, that Seneca, the Roman philosopher, 
used a microscope, such as some of our modern philoso- 
phers have used, namely, a small glass globe filled with 
water; therefore, I conclude, that a very small portion 
of the credit of inventing optical glasses belongs either 
to Jansen, the spectacle-maker, or to Galileo, the philo- 
sopher. The Copernicans have, however, greatly cele- 
brated the praises of the latter, because he so largely 
contributed to establish their favourite creed, con- 
cerning the motion of the earth, and a plurality of 
worlds; and, in particular, because he displayed so much 
address in promoting the removal of any scruples that 
might have been felt, at forcing the Solar System upon 
the world, in defiance of inimical passages of the holy 
scriptures. 

I have, now, sufficiently shown, that the ancients 
were not ignorant of optics, or optical instruments. 
However, I have no objection to admit, that the astro- 
nomers who flourished before the time of Galileo, never 
thought of availing themselves of such aids for the 
discovery of earths in the heavens. Indeed, I am well 
persuaded, that, in general, they well understood the 
difference between the obscure appearance of an opaque 
body, and the shining property of a transparent crystal- 
line substance. Fontenelle, who was an enthusiast in 
the belief of a plurality of worlds, took considerable 
pains to persuade his female noviciate, that the moon 
was as certainly inhabited as the town of St. Denis; but 
the feigned marchioness very pertinently asks him, 
" Can it be possible that the earth is luminous like the 
moon, for that is essential to their similarity ?" Con- 
scious of the force of the remark, certain Newtonians 



182 



have imagined, that some very bright parts of the moon 
are rocks of diamonds ! The moon and stars are, indeed, 
bodies evidently formed of a shining substance; which, 
by its transparent nature, admits the penetration of the 
solar rays, and returns them to the eye by reflection. 
It appears reasonable to suppose, that the moon is really 
of a watery substance, from the circumstance of the 
similarity of her appearance to white clouds, or snow- 
covered mountains, when, in the day-time, the three 
objects are seen in the same direction. The correctness 
of this conclusion seems to be further confirmed by 
Mr. Baldwin, in the narrative of his aerial excursion in 
the year 1785, but more particularly by a coloured 
print, accompanying that account, which shows how the 
earth appeared as seen through the openings between 
the clouds, when he was at a considerable elevation 
above them. The earth appeared of an obscure, 
greenish, or bluish hue, but the clouds were of a dazzling 
' white. Moreover, instead of the water of the sea, 
rivers, ponds, and canals appearing dark, as Cassini, 
above a hundred years ago, said it would, to any one, if he 
were placed at a great elevation above it; on the contra- 
ry, it appeared to Mr. Baldwin to be bright and shining; 
the pits, he said, were like spangles upon a dark ground. 
I recollect seeing that balloon when it penetrated the 
clouds; it did not appear like a luminous star; but the 
very reverse; and I therefore infer, that a globe of earth, 
at the same, or any greater distance, would have had a 
similar dark appearance; or, rather, that at the distance 
of a few miles it would have totally disappeared, for 
want of the natural property of receiving and reflecting 
the beams of solar light. 

The Newtonians implicitly relying upon their theory, 
and spurning at the vulgarity of all occular demonstra- 



183 



tion to the contrary, positively insist, that the moon is 
an opaque body. One of their most admired writers has 
in his book this passage. " Moses calls the moon a 
great Luminary, as well as the sun, but the moon is 
known" (by whom, or by what means?) " to be an opaque 
body, and the smallest that astronomers have observed in 
the heavens," (of that, however, they have never yet 
given any proof, as will hereafter be shown,) "and shines 
upon us, not by any inherent light of its own, but by 
reflecting the light of the sun. If Moses had known this, 
and told the Israelites so, they vjould have stared at him, 
and considered him rather as a madman, than as a person 
commissioned by the Almighty to be their leader." As 
men possessed of discerning senses and intelligent under- 
standings, they would most certainly have stared and 
considered him a madman, and they would of course 
have rejected him as a leader, had he attempted to per- 
suade them that black was white, — that a globular body, 
opaque and naturally obscure, (for in general they now 
believe that it has neither atmosphere nor ocean,) would 
reflect light to the distance of 240,000 miles, of Newtonian 
measurement! For, as their minds, in those early times, 
were not darkened and sophisticated by false systems of 
philosophy, common experience, aided by common sense, 
must have convinced them to a certainty, that such a 
thing was impossible, and that therefore none but an 
ignorant man, or a presumptuous impostor, would insist 
upon things so preposterous. But had he on the contrary 
told them, that the moon was a congealed watery sub- 
stance, and that it therefore possessed a capability of 
receiving and transmitting the solar beams by reflection, 
their understandings would immediately have assented to 
a thing so reasonable, because it was natural : nor could 
they justly have considered it an impropriety, to term the 



184 



moon a great Luminary; for, as the moon derives its 
light from the sun, so, primarily, did the sun receive its 
light from the Creator. The one body dispenses the light; 
the other receives and reflects it back to the earth. I 
conceive air to be as necessary to support and give effect 
to the solar light, as water in the lunar, or in any other 
body, to receive, reflect, and render it manifest to the 
natural sight. It was to Moses that the Maker of the 
sun and moon, re-authenticated his own history of 
the creation ; and, therefore, under His divine tuition, it 
may be supposed, that Moses knew the nature of dark 
and luminous bodies, quite as well as his opposers of the 
present day, notwithstanding all their elaborate bubble- 
blowing, fire-weighing, and pore-searching, of solid 
matter. They slyly, with one breath, acknowledge 
Moses to have been a leader and a lawgiver, raised up 
and instructed by God; and then, with the very next 
breath, because his information happens directly to 
oppose their impositions, they impudently contradict, 
and accuse him of a want of common sense! 

But however conclusively the moon's crystalline 
appearance demonstrates the falsehood of the modern 
assertion, that she is formed of opaque matter, and 
inhabited; there is no great necessity to dwell upon that 
argument; for there are many others to prove, that it is 
physically impossible that either it, or the planets, can be 
inhabited; that is to say, if we may be allowed to enter 
upon the discussion, with reasons furnished from what 
we know of the operation of created things, and of what 
is absolutely necessary for the subsistence of animal life: 
and no other kind of arguments, in rational discussion, 
ought for a moment to be tolerated. 

Astronomers inform us, that upon the moon there is 
no change of seasons, by reason that her axis is continu- 



185 



ally perpendicular, or very nearly so, to the ecliptic; so 
it is with Jupiter and Mars. Now, experience tells us, 
that, without such vicissitudes, this globe would soon 
become a desolate waste. The sun shines on one side 
of the moon every month for a fortnight together, 
without any clouds to intercept his rays. Were that 
the case on the earth, there can be no doubt that, in 
all the torrid and temperate zones, at least, animal and 
vegetable life would very soon become extinct. For we 
know how oppressive the heat sometimes is, even in the 
northern climate of England, though relieved by the 
sun's nightly absence. During the other fortnight, one 
half of the moon lies in darkness and cold, which would 
be equally as destructive as the same period of heat. 
One half of the lunarians, they tell us, enjoy the constant 
presence of moon light, (earth light !) because the moon 
has always the same side towards us; but the other half 
of them, for the same reason, never see a moon, unless 
they now and then take a journey for the purpose of 
peeping at us ! All the inhabitants of the earth, on the 
contrary, are served by the moon's regular periodical 
returns, without the necessity of travelling hundreds 
or thousands of miles to enjoy the spectacle, or the 
benefits derived from it. Here it is absolutely neces- 
sary, for the support of animal and vegetable life, to 
have the constant use of air and water; but on the 
moon, it is contended, by most philosophers, that there 
is no atmosphere, no clouds, seas, nor lakes; yet one and 
all of them agree, that she is an inhabited world, from 
the circumstance, I suppose, of her face being rough, 
and her body round!* 

* Kepler wrote a book under the title of "An Astronomical Dream," 
concerning lunar astronomy, or what things would happen to the 
inhabitants of the moon, what diversity of light and days they 
would experience," &c. What Kepler proposed as a dream, 

2 B 



186 



Leaving the moon to the dreams of philosophers, let 
us turn our view to the extremities of the Solar System, 
and consider what there is in the situation or circum- 
stances of Mercury, or of the Georgium Sidus, to 
recommend them to the rank of inhabited worlds. The 
former, we are assured, upon mathematical demonstra- 
tion, has seven times more heat than the earth receives 
from the sun ; of course nothing like vegetation or 
animal life could exist there, even at the poles; the 
salamander itself would quickly fall a prey to the 
devouring flames. If we consider the other extremity of 
the system, how intense must the cold be on the 
Georgium Sidus: what animal, or what plant, could 
exist in such a dark region of eternal frost? where the 
Newtonians assure us, that there is less solar light, and 
more cold, by 360 times, than we have upon this earth ! 
Oh, say they, as to light, that planet has two or three 
attendant moons: well, and suppose it has; what benefit 
should we derive from our moon, supposing her light to 

Huygens, and a long list of Kepler's Newtonian followers, have 
treated as a reality. ParkhursVs Heb. Lex. 

The writings of Baron Swedenburg seem rather satirical upon 
this point. With apparent gravity he assures his readers, that he 
" conversed with the spirits of people who had formerly lived in 
the land of the moon; that they were homunciones, or dwarfs; 
that they appeared to him by two and two, riding one upon the 
back of the other, and that they had voices in imitation of thunder, 
which issued from their abdomen, (instead of lungs,) because the 
moon has no atmosphere!" He likewise asserts, that he conversed 
with the spirits of some beings who had formerly inhabited Jupiter, 
who were called chimney sweepers, and appeared in similar gar- 
ments, but who were ultimately changed into caterpillars and 
butterflies! He mentions the other planets of the Solar System by 
name, and says he conversed with spirits from them all; but it 
ought to be remarked, that he does not enter upon any description, 
of, nor does he notice, the people of the Georgium Sidus, Hercules, 
Ceres, or Pallas ! Was he forbidden to anticipate the discoveries 
of philosophers ? Perhaps his followers can answer that. 



187 



be no more than the three hundred and sixtieth part of 
what it is? The more this preposterous system is con- 
sidered, the more does it appear to be replete with so- 
phisms, absurdities, and impossibilities. When, however, 
they find their untempered mortar insufficient to cement 
the parts of their miserable fabric, they immediately have 
recourse to the name of their Creator for assistance. 
" It is not necessary," say they, f that the inhabitants 
of Mercury, and the Georgium Sidus, should be of the 
same nature as those of this earth, the Almighty can fit 
them for the extremes of heat, cold, &c." No doubt 
He can do any thing that is consistent with the plans of 
His divine wisdom, but He never will realize the dreams 
of idle philosophers; for, most certainly, if the system 
were formed upon their wild principles, the heavens 
would no longer declare the glory of God, nor would 
the firmament exhibit everlasting proofs of his un- 
bounded wisdom ! 



188 



CHAPTER X. 

DISTANCES OP THE HEAVENLY BODIES THE 
METHODS PROPOSED BY ASTRONOMERS TO ASCER- 
TAIN THEM SHOWN TO BE INAPPLICABLE AND 
THEREFORE USELESS CONTRADICTORY ACCOUNTS 
OF PHILOSOPHERS RESPECTING THE DISTANCES OF 
JUPITER'S SATELLITES FROM HIS BODY, AND LIKE- 
WISE RESPECTING THE DIURNAL REVOLUTIONS OF 
THE PLANETS THE CHARACTER GIVEN BY DIODORUS 
SICULUS OF THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS STRICTLY 
APPLICABLE TO THE MODERN ONES j— NATURAL EVI- 
DENCES OF THE DEITY STATED BY ST. PAUL, AND 
EXEMPLIFIED IN THE CONDUCT OF SOCRATES j — 
POETICAL CONCLUSION. 



To calculate the destinies of individuals and empires ; 
to discover the causes of motion in the heavenly bodies; 
or to measure the distances and magnitudes of the sun, 
moon and stars; have, in all nations from time immemo- 
rial been, to astronomers and mathematicians, objects of 
unceasing pursuit; though God, in the Holy Scriptures, 
has so pointedly set their vain efforts at defiance. " Let 
now the observers of the heavens, the lookers on the 
stars, stand up."— "My hand founded the earth, and 
my right hand spanned the heaven." — -"Who among 
them has declared these things?" &c. But there is no 
occasion to multiply quotations, because the constant 
disagreement and war of opinions amongst philosophers, 
sufficiently prove that they are utterly ignorant of these 



189 



matters, and that all such attempts are impositions, 
unless they are grounded upon what God himself has 
been pleased to reveal. 

The distance which Posidonius, Ptolemy and other 
ancient astronomers, assigned to the moon has, with 
some small variations, been adopted by the moderns; 
namely about 60 semidiameters of the earth ; which is 
I think evidently founded upon the apparent dimensions 
of the earth's shadow in a lunar eclipse. Ptolemy and 
some others of the ancients seem to have had a tolerably 
correct idea of the magnitude of the earth, and as they, 
like the moderns, agreed in imagining the sun to move 
at the distance of many millions of miles, they likewise 
imagined, that the diameter of the conical shadow of the 
earth could not be much diminished at the moon ; and 
that as the moon appeared to be about one-third the 
breadth of the shadow, they concluded that the moon 
itself must bear nearly a like proportion* to the diameter 
of the earth, and that therefore the real diameter of the 
moon must be about 2200 miles. That this estimate 
is formed from the appearance, is evident from the ma- 
thematical consideration, that an object of a third of an 
inch in diameter placed one yard from the eye, or of 16 
yards in diameter placed at the distance of a mile, 
appears equal to the diameter of the moon, which at the 
distance of 240,000 miles must be about 2200 miles in 
diameter in order to appear of an equal magnitude; on 
the supposition of its not being affected by the medium 
through which it is viewed. Though it is evidently 
upon this shadowy foundation that astronomers have 
estimated the distance and magnitude of the moon, they, 
I believe, generally, if not altogether, keep it out of 
sight, and endeavour to make their readers believe, that 
the problem may be solved by geometrical principles. 



190 



As they mostly copy from each other, it will be sufficient 
to quote what one or two of them have advanced upon 
the subject. 

" We will begin with the moon ; this planet is nearer 
to us than any of the rest, and the method of finding her 
distance from the earth being once known, it will be 
easy to perceive that the distance of anyother planet 
may be determined in nearly the same manner. The 
first thing to be done in the method I am about to de- 
scribe is to find the moon's horizontal parallax, or the 
difference between the place of the moon when she 
appears in the horizon to a spectator on the earth's sur- 
face ; and her place as it would appear to a spectator 
placed at the earth's centre. This problem is no less 
curious than the one it is meant to elucidate ; it is the 
same thing as to find the angle under which the semidi- 
ameter of the earth would appear, at a certain time, to 
an observer placed at the centre of the moon. That this 
can be done, must appear very extraordinary to a person 
unacquainted with astronomical principles : but the deter- 
mination, singular as it may seem, is far from being im- 
practicable." 

" Let us suppose an observer to be placed upon any 
point A, of the equator BAC (Fig. 2,) at the time the 
moon moves in the equinoctial DMP, then as this latter 
circle is in the plane of the former the moon will pass 
directly over his head, and descend perpendicularly to the 
horizon EN. In this situation of the spectator upon the 
earth's surface A, the moon will appear to have described 
a quarter of a circle, or 90 degrees, in passing from the 
zenith M to the sensible horizon at N ; but to a spec- 
tator placed at the centre of the earth O, she would 
appear to have described a quarter of a circle when she 
came to the rational horizon at P. But the moon revolves 



191 



round the earthy from the meridian to the meridian 
again, in about 24 hours and 48 minutes; she will 
therefore revolve from M to P in six hours and twelve 
minutes; and if the time she takes in moving from M to 
N, be found, by observation, and taken from six hours 
twelve minutes, the time of moving from M to P, the 
remainder will be the time employed in describing the 
arc NP. 

" Having thus found the measure of the arc NP in 
time, we can convert it into degrees and minutes, as 
follows: as the time of describing the arc MN, which is 
found, by observation, is to 90 degrees, so is the time of 
describing the arc NP, to the degrees and minutes in 
that arc. But this arc is the measure of the angle 
NOP, or of its equal ONA; for, since the lines AN and 
OP are parallel to each other, it is a known property of 
geometry, that the angle NOP will be equal to the angle 
ONA. This angle ONA, is called the moon's horizontal 
parallax, and as that is now found, we can easily deter- 
mine the distance of the moon from the earth's centre. 
For it is a maxim in trigonometry, that when any three 
things, in a plain triangle, are known, except the three 
angles, the rest may be found by calculation. 

" Now, in the triangle AON, we have the side OA, 
equal to the diameter of the earth, which from an actual 
mensuration of the circumference," (part, only, of the 
circumference,) 66 has been found to be about 3960 miles: 
the angle ONA, or the moon's horizontal parallax, has 
also been found by observation; and the angle OAN is 
a right angle, because OA is perpendicular to the 
sensible horizon EN. These three things, therefore, are 
known, and are sufficient data for determining the rest. 
The side of the triangle ON, is the distance of the moon 
from the centre of the earth O; and this distance, by a 



192 



trigonometrical operation, is found to be, at a mean rate, 
about sixty semidiameters of the earth, or in round 
numbers, about 240,000." 

This is one of those demonstrative supports' of the 
Solar System which we are required to believe, or to be 
denounced by the oracles of it, as, " the worst of 
heretics." It has the merit, certainly, of appearing 
extremely plausible, and so far it suits their system; but 
that is all that can be said in its favour; in other 
respects it may, with propriety, be classed with the rest 
of their inapplicable experiments and fanciful theories. 

The refraction of the air, concerning which philoso- 
phers are entirely in the dark, as their own writings 
show,* renders this mathematical theory quite useless: 
besides which, may be mentioned the difficulty of noting 
the exact time of the moon's passage through the 
zenith; the rapid change in her declination; the un- 
avoidable inaccuracy of instruments and time-pieces, 
used in making observations, and even the liability, in 
nice observations of this kind, to be deceived by the eye 
itself. These are obstacles which no human art can 
surmount. Besides, the moon moves through an 
angular space equal to what they estimate the whole 
parallax to be, in less than four minutes of time: it may 
be further remarked too, that an observer elevated to the 
short distance of 969 yards above the level of the sea, 
would see the centre of the lunar disk until it reached 
the rational horizon, in which case she would seem to 

* " It would be endless to notice the different opinions respect- 
ing both the terrestrial and the astronomic refractions which are 
to be met with in the writings of various authors on the subject; 
and it would be equally useless to notice all the tables of its 
quantity given by them, some of which differ very much from 
others." — Dr. Rees's New Cylopcedia, Article, Refraction. 



193 



1iim to have no parallax^ For, let a (Fig, 3,) represent 
the station of an observer on the earth's surface, at the 
level of the sea, viewing the moon while setting in the 
sensible horizon H; if the same observer were elevated 
to A; it is evident that he would then be enabled to 
see the centre of the moon until it reached S, the 
rational horizon. Suppose the moon's distance from the 
earth to be 239980 miles, the semidiameter of the earth 
3985, and BSO, the angle of the moon's parallax, 57' 5"; 
we have then the angle SAO, 89° 2' 55", and the angle 
SOA 90°. Let a line be drawn from the point B, where 
SA touches the surface of the earth, to O, the centre, 
And then the triangles SOA and OAB will be similar. 

As sin. SAO, 89 2 55 9.999940 

Is to BO, 3985 3.600428 

- So is Rad. 10.000000 

13.600428 

Miles. Yards. 

To AO 39S5 969 3.600488 

So that an observer at A, elevated 969 yards above 
a, the level of the sea, would see the centre of the moon 
at S, in the rational horizon ; and consequently it would 
appear to his view full six hours and twelve minutes, 
even without the elevating aid of refraction. But I 
need not enlarge upon the useless theory in question; 
the proposer himself was sufficiently aware of its ineffi- 
ciency for the purpose; for he observes, " The true 
quantity of the moon's horizontal parallax cannot be 
ascertained by this method, on account of the varying 
declination of the moon, and the inconstancy of the 
horizontal refractions, which are perpetually changing, 
according to the state of the atmosphere at the time: for 
the moon continues but for a short time in the cquinoc- 

2 c 



194 



tial, and the refraction, at a mean rate, elevates her 
apparent place near the horizon half as much as her 
parallax depresses it," 

Here I may be allowed to ask, how do these philoso- 
phers know what quantity the parallax depresses the 
appearance, before that parallax has been discovered? 
" But/' says the proposer of the above-stated theory, 
" astronomers have thought of" (not practised,) "another 
method, which is free from these objections ; and if 
practised by able observers, with good instruments, it is 
sufficient for determining the parallax, and distance of 
the moon, to a considerable degree of precision. 1 shall 
mention the most simple case first, and this will render 
the general method more clear and satisfactory. Suppose 
two observers placed under the same meridian at A and 
B, (Fig. 4,) at such a distance from each other, that the 
one at A sees the moon M, in his horizon, whilst the 
other at B, sees her in his zenith; then will the distance 
of the moon OM, and the horizontal parallax OMA, be 
easily determined. For the arc AB, which measures the 
angle O, is equal to the difference of latitude of the two 
observers; the side OA is equal to 3960 miles, the same 
as before; and the angle OAM is a right angle, &c. 
This," he adds, " is the simplest solution the problem 
admits of; but, as it may not be easy to perceive how the 
two observers can be placed in the manner required, I 
shall give you a more general method," &c. 

In this last solution, the author begins by asserting, 
that it is free from those objections which the first is 
liable to; one of which, he very properly remarked, was 
the horizontal refractions; surely that attaches to this 
second method, since one of the observers is sup- 
posed to see the moon in the horizon; however, it is 
not necessary to dwell upon this, since it is admitted 



196 



been adopted by the moderns; but as the distances 
made out thereby have been entirely vague and contra- 
dictory, another, for the sake of novelty, was proposed 
to the Royal Society, by that great calculator, Doctor 
Halley; namely, that of making observations on the 
transits of Venus, in the years 1761 and 1769. "At 
these times" (Encyclo. Brit.) "the greatest attention was 
given by astronomers, but it was found impossible to 
observe the exact times of immersion and emersion, 
with such accuracy as had been expected; so that the 
matter is not yet determined so exactly as could be 
wished." I would ask any rational man, what accuracy 
could be expected in the determination of an angle of 
tgVo of a degree, or S", from any observations made 
upon the sun's luminous body? With equal regard to 
truth and reason they might assert, that, by taking two 
stations, a yard from each other, in a dark night, they 
could determine, mathematically, the distance of a 
lamp suspended in the air at the unknown distance of 
fifteen miles from the observers; for a base line of a yard 
would bear the same proportion to that, as the semi- 
diameter of the earth to 100,000,000 of miles, — the 
present estimated distance of the sun. 

Dr. Halley's celebrated dissertation on the method of 
finding the sun's parallax by the transit of Venus, con- 
tains false and delusive positions in the very first page 
of it. Alluding to Mr. Horrox's account of the transit 
observed by him, he asserts, that, " it has at length been 
found, that the semidiameter of Venus, seen from the sun, 
subtends no more than afourthpart of a minute; Mercury 
ten seconds; Saturn the same, and Jupiter twenty se- 
conds," An assertion such as this, was quite worthy 
of the man who set up his own authority in opposition 
to Divine Revelation. How could he tell what would be 



197 



the appearance of those planets to a spectator placed in 
the sun ? For, at that time his proposed method had 
never been tried; and he does not affirm, that he himself, 
or any of his brother mathematicians, had ever ascended 
to the sun to take from that station a survey of the 
universe ! A foreigner, unacquainted with the Newtonian 
dogmas, might however have supposed, on hearing 
of the operations of gravity, that, by means of its mar- 
vellous occult power, Halley, or his friends, had been 
carried to the sun for that purpose, and, that the centri- 
fugal force of repulsion had kindly sent him back again 
to communicate to his fellow mortals the important par- 
ticulars he had seen ; or that he had received the infor- 
mation from that contemporary theologian who professed 
to hold converse with the spirits of men who had inha- 
bited the said planets as well as others among the fixed 
stars ! Be all this as it may, Halley thought proper to 
adopt the same solar parallax as Eratosthenes did about 
2000 years before him : and the observers of the transits, 
on their part, contrived to bring the result of their ob- 
servations and calculations sufficiently near to the pre- 
viously recorded opinion of Halley! 

I do not in the least blame astronomers for being igno- 
rant of the true magnitudes and distances of the sun, 
moon and stars. But, as learned men, they are certainly 
inexcusable for endeavouring to impose upon the world 
an account of distances and magnitudes which they must 
certainly have known, could not possibly be ascertained 
by any of the theories upon which they have pretended 
to ground their calculations. That such is the fact, is 
sufficiently evident from the subjoined statement, which 
contains the opinions of the most celebrated astrono- 
mers, of different ages and nations, concerning the sun's 
distance from the earth. 



198 





- 1586 V 




- 13141 j 




- 1210 / 




- 7936 f 




942 \ semidiameters 




- 3438 / of the earth. 


Ricciolus, 


- 7600 i 




- 15000 \ 


Later Astronomers, 


- 21000 I 


Present Astronomers, - - 


- 25000 J 


The last mentioned, being 


the most marvellous, I be- 



lieve is now generally adopted by the learned as the true 
distance. 

The rule which philosophers have adopted from 
Kepler, for the determination of the distances of the 
other planets, appears to me to be as fanciful as the rest 
of that astrologer's notions concerning " the stars and 
planets being inhabitants of aether,, which live and move 
in that element like butterflies in the air;" and that the 
" densities of the planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth, 
Venus, and Mercury, may be compared to a diamond, a 
loadstone, iron, silver, lead, quicksilver, and the sun to 
gold : which," say the Newtonians 61 was a happy con- 
jecture, though the time was not then come to weigh the 
celestial bodies and to estimate with exactness their 
different densities." One of Kepler's admirers tells 
us, that, "by calculations founded on a series of the 
most accurate observations, (fanciful conceptions, he 
ought to have said,) he discovered that the squares of 
the times, in which any two planets complete their revo- 
lutions in their orbits, are exactly proportionate to the 
cubes of their mean distances from the sun. Venus for 
example revolves round the sun in 224 days and the 



199 



earth in 365, and the mean distance of the earth from 
the sun is 95,000,000 of miles. Hence according to 
Kepler, as the square of 365 is to the square of 224, so is 
the cube of 95,000,000 of miles to a fourth number, 
which is the cube of Venus's mean distance from the 
sun; and if the cube root of that number be found, it 
will give about 68,000,000 of miles for her real distance. 
The moons of Jupiter and Saturn are found to follow the 
same law in revolving round their primaries." 

Here, according to their usual practice, they take for 
granted things which have never been proved; namely, 
the motion of the earth and one of its reputed distances 
from the sun. The planet Venus, too, instead of 224 
days, if we may believe the evidence of our eyes, takes 
up about 590 in revolving round the sun from one con- 
junction to the next of the same denomination: which 
fact ought to upset their imaginary analogy at once. 
No, no, say they, that appearance is owing to the com- 
bined motions of the earth and Venus. I repeat again, 
give us a proof of terrestrial motion. 

Now with regard to the confirmation which the satel- 
lites of Jupiter are said to give of this celebrated Kep- 
lerian law; let us compare the observations of astrono- 
mers upon these bodies and see how they agree together. 
It was Galileo who first discovered them, as we are in- 
formed, by means of his telescope, and he observed their 
motions with great diligence. Their distances from 
Jupiter, are stated by him as follows, with which the 
testimonies of Simon Marius, Rheita and Vendelinus 
nearly coincide. 



Galileo, - - 3 5 

Rheita, 3 4 

Newtonians, 5| 9 T V 



1st. 2nd. 




3rd. 
8 



4th. 
12 



200 



It thus appears that the Newtonians state these distances 
nearly double of what the others estimated them. What 
can be the reason of this great difference ? Is the centri- 
fugal force driving them off; or does theory require the 
observations of former astronomers to be corrected? I do 
not find fault with them, because they differ so widely 
in their accounts; for the whole system of Jupiter 
and his satellites is comprehended in an angular space 
equal to the size of a small pea placed a yard from the 
eye, and of course a trifling mistake of 2 or 300,000 miles 
might easily be made! This would be excusable; but 
I believe it has frequently happened, that an attachment 
to theory and favourite systems, has induced men to mis- 
represent and depreciate the labours of their predeces- 
sors. Moreover, in their zeal to discover analogies they 
are sometimes strangely carried away by fancies. A num- 
ber of them assert, that they think they have seen a moon 
belonging to, and near, the planet Venus, which others 
disbelieve and deny, probably because Mars, which is situ- 
ated at twice the distance is destitute of that advantage I 

Then with respect to the rotatory motion of these 
bodies, imagination seems to have supplied the defects 
of eye-sight and telescopes, as appears by the following 
statement. 

Venus. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. 
d, h. m. d. h. in. d. h. m. d. h. m. 
Rheita, 0 14 0 1 21 6 11 20 1 29 10 1 

Cassini, adopted by present? 0 23 0 1 0 40 0 9 56 

Astronomers, j 

Roman Astronomers, 0 13 0 

Bianchini, 24 8 0 

Herschell, 0 10 16 

La Place says, that the rotation of Mercury on his axis 
is accomplished in 24 h - 5 m * 28 s - Bonnycastle says that 
it has never been discovered, because no spots appear on 
his disk. How then did La Place discover it? 



201 



By this it appears, that the accounts of these observers 
of the heavens, concerning the vertiginous motions of 
these supposed worlds, are as uncertain as the melting 
snows which they imagine they sometimes descry at the 
distance of 50,000,000 of miles about the poles of the 
planet Mars ! But however these matters may be, it 
does not seem to me, a wise employment, to be search- 
ing the heavens for arguments to countenance the un- 
proved doctrine of terrestrial motion. It would be as 
reasonable to attempt to persuade a man at rest, that he 
is in motion similar to one seen in the act of running, at 
the distance of a mile. Few, however, will give them- 
selves the trouble attentively to consider these things, 
therefore the imposing name of philosophy often proves 
a passport for evident contradictions and gross absur- 
dities, especially when the opinions and doctrines of an 
eminent genius are recommended by plausibility of man- 
ner combined with an elegant style of composition. 

A book published by Dr. John Scott, in the year 
1754, on The Holy Scriptural Doctrine of the Divine 
Trinity in Essential Unity; from pages 130 to 210, con- 
tains some very acute and excellent observations upon 
the (e Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy; 
wherein," he says, " the divinely revealed Word of God 
set forth in the Holy Scriptures, which carries along 
with it not only the most clear and evident proof, both 
of its divine original, and of its truth, is set at nought, 
and contradicted, either inconsiderately, or designedly, 
by the author of that system, who had these Holy Scrip- 
tures in his possession." I would, with pleasure have 
introduced some extracts from this work ; for he appears 
to have been a learned and an excellent man ; but they 
would have increased the size of my own book too much, 
which is extended beyond the limit I had anticipated. 

2 D 



202 



I therefore hasten to a conclusion of this part of my 
undertaking. 

What was said by Diodorus Siculus, in his first book, 
concerning the instability of the opinions of the Greek 
philosophers, is equally applicable to the philosophers of 
Christendom who have imbibed their spirit and princi- 
ples. " Though some few/' says he, " give themselves 
up wholly to philosophy, yet they persist only for gain, 
continually innovating some things in the most consider- 
able doctrines; and never follow those that went before 
them; whereas the Chaldeans preserve their learning 
within themselves by a continued tradition from father 
to son. But the Greeks aiming at gain, by this profes- 
sion, erect new sects, and contradicting each other in the 
most considerable theorems, make their discij)les dubious, 
and their minds as long as they live are in suspense and 
doubt; neither can they firmly believe any thing: for if a 
man examine the chiefest sects of the philosophers, he will 
find them most different from one another and directly 
op]wsite in the principal assertions" 

If any excuse for instability were admissible, it might 
be urged in behalf of the Greeks and other nations, who 
had gradually fallen away from the simple and pure 
knowledge of God and his works, which had been pre- 
served and handed down by the first fathers of mankind 
after the flood: but even after the loss of that knowledge, 
there remained sufficient evidences of the existence, 
omnipresence, power and goodness of the One God to 
have saved them from the idols of their own imagina- 
tions, had they attentively observed and honestly reflect- 
ed upon his wonderful works. That true philosopher 
St. Paul, testified, and very justly too, that "the invisi- 
ble things of him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen; being understood by the things that are 



203 



made; even his eternal power and Godhead; so that 
they are without excuse." If then the instability and 
ignorance of the Gentile nations, in a knowledge of the 
true God and his works, was inexcusable, what can be 
said for those who, while they have the Sun of Truth 
constantly shining before them, shut their eyes to its 
steady light, and prefer to follow the wandering sparks 
of their own imaginations? 

But so it has been; so it is, and so it ever will be, — 
so long as men " forsake the fountain of living waters 
and continue to hew out to themselves false and useless 
vessels that can hold no water." I could easily fill a 
volume with an enumeration of the contradictory opini- 
ons of the ancient and modern philosophers. And I 
could as easily show, that, on almost every point upon 
which the moderns are constantly wrangling, the Greek 
philosophers vainly disputed more than two thousand 
years ago ; but I have no wish to fatigue my readers with 
a recital of their endless dogmas; it would be taking up 
their time to no beneficial purpose. 

Amongst the Greek philosophers, such as Protagoras, 
and others of the sophists, many raised themselves to 
affluence and distinction. People of rank and wealth 
placed their sons under their care, and paid them large 
sums for their education. The sophists taught them, in 
a plausible and superficial manner, such artifices as 
enabled them, when they came to occupy public situa- 
tions in the commonwealth, to tickle the ears of the 
people, and to catch popularity, while they were diffi- 
dent in those solid acquirements which should have 
rendered them the pillars and the ornaments of their 
country. Some honest men, however, occasionally 
appeared amongst them, and laboured to recal them to 
the simplicity of nature, and to such a knowledge of the 



204 



true God, as could be attained by temperance and a 
contemplation of His works. Socrates, for example, 
was not such a philosopher as Diodorus described; he 
was no hireling: he diligently pursued the light of 
nature: he marked the operations of God in the stu- 
pendous theatre of the universe; from which he deduced 
certain evidence of His existence and wise government; 
which he demonstrated by the most luminous and con- 
clusive arguments. Offices of public trust, it would 
appear, were at that time filled by the disciples of the 
sophists. The steady light of Socrates beamed upon 
their conduct and actions, and they would not bear its 
influence: hence his melancholy fate; which was soon 
followed by the destruction of the liberties of Greece. 
I offer a tribute to the memory of that excellent man. 
Nature to Socrates an uncouth form assign'd — 
An index of a soul to vicious ways inclin'd; 
'Till wisdom's laws his wayward will subdu'd, 
And her sweet influence all his pow'rs imbu'd: 
The lion then transform'd into the dove, 
And all his mind attun'd to heav'nly love; 
Virtue's fair form he woo'd with ardent flame, 
As firm he bent his course to deathless fame. 
And when at length possess'd of all her charms, 
He shone in justice, wisdom, deeds of arms; — 
When nought in his great views could find a place, 
But gen'rous friendship for the human race: 
When sophists' wiles successfully he pos'd, 
And vice and faction dauntlessly expos'd, 
His steady light laid bare corruption's course, 
And error vanquish'd with resistless force: — 
'Twas then his enemies, in dark array, 
Conspir'd to move him from his god-like way; 
The poison'd phial, by demoniac spite, 



205 



Was pour'd upon this orb of moral light ! 
Ev'n then sublime he mov'd, in truth array'd, 
Nor virtue's cause, in aught, he once betray'd; 
To life's last verge majestic he declin'd, 
And glorious left his parting beams behind! 

The sage remov'd, and justice at a stand, 
A moral gloom pervaded all the land; 
'Till radiant truth on his remorseless foes 
Conviction flash'd, and Greece indignant rose,-^ 
Dealt retribution on each guilty head, 
And mourn'd the man who youth to virtue led; 
Statues and monuments then rose around, 
And his great name immortal glory crown'd ! 

In future, I trust, this interesting people will derive 
wisdom, not only from a retrospection of their ancient 
history, but likewise from the adoption of a better dis- 
pensation of knowledge than is to be found amongst 
the changeable doctrines of their ancient philosophers. 
I hope they will adopt the Divine basis — which will be 
the certain highway to national importance, and to in- 
dividual prosperity. 

But what is it that our modern philosophers want? 
What are they searching after? Leucippus, Democritus, 
and Epicurus, amongst the ancients, and Gassendus, 
and his followers amongst the moderns, have taught that 
there are no beings, except atoms; which, they have 
acknowledged, are not to be detected by the senses, and 
of course are imaginary beings. Their fancies having, 
however, set them afloat throughout the universe, they 
will have them disposed of in the eternal formation of 
worlds — bodies animate and inanimate. Buffbn will 
have his worlds formed from masses of matter, struck off 
from the surface of the sun by comets in rapid motion, 
and put into order by gravity, forgetting that authority 



206 



which has taught us that the earth existed before the 
sun was formed. Newton's imagination will have kis 
worlds formed out of the sediments of solar light, by 
gravity and electrical and subtile spirits; and La Place, 
differing but little from him, forms and arranges his 
universe out of dense solar atmospheres. These pro- 
found geometricians, likewise, give the sun the priority 
in creation, and therefore contradict the scripture. 
Behold! these creators not only contradict the scrip- 
ture, but they contradict each other; and instead of " all 
being light," as their poetical flatterers assure us, they 
only plunge us into doubt and darkness: and, therefore, 
their opposite doctrines can no more form one consistent 
rational believer, than their atoms, corpuscles, solar 
fragments, sediments, or atmospheres, can form a 
world. Besides, the universe was perfectly formed, and 
put in motion, before their plans or materials were even 
thought of; therefore their mighty labours are all in 
vain ; they have neither altered the universe, nor added 
to it, a single particle; for, the description that was given 
of it more than five thousand years ago, perfectly agrees 
with the magnificent spectacle which it holds up to our 
admiring view at this day. 

So far, then, from these philosophers being the privy 
councillors of nature, their constant disputes and con- 
tradictory doctrines manifestly prove, that they have not 
even had a single peep under the veil that covers her 
secret operations. The earth is firmly at rest ; and it 
will retain its sedentary nature, and true spherical form, 
in spite of their projectile and centrifugal forces; nor 
will the absence of those chimeras, for a single moment, 
stop the stars in their perpetual courses. The sun will 
continue to dispense its light and heat without the 
liberal supplies of the fuel of their imaginary comets; 



207 



and all bodies will preserve their inherent hues, in 
defiance of the discolouring laws of optics. The 
magnificent universe, which God himself has created is 
symmetrical and beautiful. He himself has given light, 
matter, and motion. Let philosophers make a wise and 
beneficial use of them for their own and the public 
advantage. Let them give credit to the account which 
God himself has revealed, and then they will do credit to 
themselves; but let them no longer presumptuously at- 
tempt to enquire into the secret constitution of bodies, 
nor into the divine secrets of motion; for they may rest 
assured that God has for ever hidden these mysteries from 
their ee prying eyes!" There is a limit beyond which 
philosophy should never attempt to pass: within that 
limit all is substantial and good; beyond it, there are 
only shadows and perplexities. In this view I am not 
singular; the worthy and accomplished La Pluche, on 
an attentive review of the labours of the modern theorists, 
thus expresses his sentiments. 

"The experience of six thousand years is certainly 
sufficient to teach us what is possible and what forbid- 
den. While man, in his enquiries, was busied in things 
submitted to his government, his endeavours were always 
rewarded by new discoveries. Whenever he would pry 
into the interior structure of the parts of the universe, 
the motion of which is not submitted to his care, his 
ideas have been fantastical and uncertain. Let him study 
the measures of magnitudes, and the laws of motions; 
not to pace out the heavens, or to weigh the solid bodies 
of the planets, but to know the order of his days; let 
him observe the relation of the aspects of the heavens to 
his habitation, the progression of light in the modifica- 
tion in which it is presented to him; the use he may 
make of the equilibrium of liquids, of the weights and 



208 



velocities of the bodies of which he is master, of all the 
experiments which come within his view, and especially 
under his hand; in a word, let him apply experiments to 
the necessaries of life, and he will have an unerring philo- 
sophy, replete with great advantages. But to undertake to 
determine the cause which governs the motion of the uni- 
verse, and to penetrate into the universal structure, and 
the particular parts of which it it is composed, is to for- 
feit the honor of improving his patrimony in order to 
run after shadows. It is neglecting treasures which are 
open to us, and obstinately persisting to knock at a door 
which has been shut against us these six thousand years." 
The swelling period, and the well-trimm'd line, 
Awhile, like gaudy froth, appear to shine, 
Like that distort the passing forms display'd, 
As pride inspires, and folly takes the lead. 
Thus vain philosophy, from age to age, 
In fruitless toil employs the fancy'd sage, 
Whose fine-spun notions broach'd, pretence affords 
For learnM contention, and a strife of words : 
Like nimble gladiators, each displays 
His dext'rous skill to gain the crown of bays, 
And fix a lasting empire o'er the mind 
Of empty postulates — dogmatic wind, — 
Those flimsy webs, which roving fancy forms, 
Doom'd to be rent by controversial storms, — 
Those splendid bubbles, which the learn'd display, 
Rais'd by a breath, explode and pass away. 

Lo, he who form'd the universal frame, 
His works describ'd, and gave each part its name ; 
Then left the record, for all future time, 
Man to instruct in ev'ry earthly clime, — 
How all the parts of the stupendous whole, 
By voice divine, appear'd from pole to pole; 



209 



How each in orderly succession rose, — 
All things in earth; each heav'nly light that glows. 
In man, his image, wisely He combin'd 
Organs of sense with a reflecting mind; 
That he might see and contemplate each hour 
On all the wonders of Almighty pow'r ! 
Those shining orbs above, of heav'nly mould, 
Which have from dawn of time incessant rolPd, 
And shown to ev'ry age, in ev'ry clime, 
Revolving seasons and progressive time, — 
Faithful proclaim, as round the world they shine, 
Order proceeds alone from Plans Divine! 

How foolish, then, to slight fair nature's ways, 
And choose the intricate and darksome maze, 
To which weak sophistry, with artful guise, 
Unceasing labours to seduce the wise, — 
With abstract figments tries to lure the mind, 
To doubt each sense and cast the truth behind; — 
That sacred truth, in which transcendent shine 
Th' immortal precepts of the laws divine; — 
Those laws, benignly sent to lead the soul 
And place the passions under wise control, 
If once adopted, man would sweetly prove, 
Order on Earth as in the Heav'n above! 

TO TRUTH. 

O Source of science, pure exhaustless spring ! 
From thy clear fountain who shall knowledge bring, 
And, (freed from schoolmen's arts — true wisdom's blight,) 
Reveal the fruits of thy transcendent light? 

Not proud ambition's towering spires, 

Nor envy's snaky crest reflect thy fires; 

Round these thy beams no sacred lustre shed, 

Nor, radiant, crown th' artful sophist's head. 

2 E 



210 



Nor his, whose lamp of reason wastes its oil 
For lucre's dirt, or flatt'ry's baneful smile; 
Such may profess thy beauteous courts to tread, 
But such ne'er can thy blissful empire spread. 

Blooming, sublime, above the storms of life, 
Far from base passions and ignoble strife; 
Thy spotless orb, thy pure unfading blaze, 
Takes no false mediums to transmit its rays. 

Not venal they who climb the steepy mount, 
And, thirsty, drink at thy clear hallow'd fount; 
Unsway'd by names, they view with free delight 
Thy simple charms that shine serenely bright. 

Thy willing sons, warm'd with thy gen'rous flame, 
And scorning sordid paths to empty fame, 
Unaw'd by sceptic sneers, or bigots' rage, 
Shall found thy realm and hail thy happy age. 

Resistless truth ! O chase the shades away, 
In splendour rise and claim thy promis'd day; 
Each art expose which thy fair face deforms, 
And, potent, sweep off error's troubled storms. 

Lo, now the dawn appears, the darkness flies, 
Primeval science greets our longing eyes; 
Before th' orient beams its op'ning flow'rs 
Expand as fed by truth's eternal show'rs! 



211 



To the general remarks which 1 have made from page 86 to 96, on 
the TIDES; I have thought it proper to add what follows on the 

TIDES in the PORT of LIVERPOOL. 



The late Mr. William Hutchinson, whom I have before mention- 
ed, while he was harbour master of this port, made a regular series 
of observations Upon the tides, winds, &c. from day to day, during 
a period of about 29 years. The manuscript, containing his obser- 
vations for 24 years, is now in the Lyceum Library in this town. It 
is a valuable record, and I think it ought to be published for the 
improvement of this branch of knowledge. Mr. Hutchinson was a 
scientific and worthy man. Instead of employing his time upon 
vain theories, he applied his talents in various ways to the advan- 
tage of his country, in the improvement of navigation ; he was the 
author of a Treatise on Practical Seamanship. The Tide Tables now 
published in Liverpool are, I believe, grounded upon his observa- 
tions ; and from a series which I have now in my possession, I have 
extracted the heights of the tides at the Full and Change of the 
Moon for ten years ; which comprehends a complete period of the 
revolution of what is termed the Moon's Apogee. I have collated 
these particulars with a copy of Mr. Hutchinson's actual observa- 
tions; and I have reason to believe that the heights are as correct- 
ly deduced as the nature of the subject will admit. Upon adding 
up the columns of the heights at the New and Full Moons respec- 
tively; and of the regular alternate excess of the one above the 
other, it appears that there is no sensible difference between them; 
no indication whatever of the operation of attraction or gravity; 
and therefore it may fairly be concluded, that no such force as solar 
or lunar attraction has any real existence. I have formed them 
into a table comprehending the years 1803 to 1812, inclusively. 

When Sir Isaac Newton laid down his system of universal gravi- 
tation, and in particular, his application of it to explain the flowing 
and ebbing of the sea, he should have taken the precaution of ac- 
quainting himself with all the actual phenomena of the tides during 
at least a revolution of what is termed the moon's apogee; his in- 
genuity might then have enabled him to form his ratios, so as to fit 
all the phenomena; but that he neglected to do, and therefore his 
theory is perfectly useless. In the Encyclop&dia Britannica are 
the following candid remarks. 

" The reader will undoubtedly be making some remarks in his 
own mind of the deductions from this theory with the actual state 
of things. He will find some considerable resemblances ; but he 



212 



will also find such great differences, as will make him very doubtful 
of its justness. In very few places does the high water happen 
within three quarters of an hour of the moon's southing, as the 
theory leads him to expect; and in no place whatever does the 
(highest) spring tide fall on the day of new and full moon, nor the 
(lowest) neap tide on the day of her quadrature. These always 
happen two or three days later. By comparing the differences 
of high water, and the moon's southing, in different places, he 
will hardly find any connecting principle." 

That there is a certain coincidence between the lunar motions and 
the motions of the currents in the ocean cannot be denied; but 
that there are any appearances in the ocean to prove the existence 
of either lunar or solar attraction I positively deny. La Place, with 
six years' observations before him, which had been made in the 
ports of France, might have given a plain and intelligible account 
of the tides; but he was so deeply involved in the sophistry of the 
system, that he could not well extricate himself from it. He indeed 
excelled in the art of sophistry; — and of throwing an air of awful 
profundity over every thing upon which he treated. By his con- 
stant professions of submitting every thing to the most rigorous 
analysis, and by a dexterous employment of his technicalities, he, 
like the rest of his coadjutors, succeeded to a miracle in fixing the 
faith of his readers ; most of whom have no spare time, nor ability 
in that way; nor will they take the trouble to examine his assump- 
tions. 

When he found, as he appears to have done, on an examination of 
the observations which had been made in the French ports, that 
the tides at the fulj and change of the moon were of the same 
heights, he ought to have concluded that there was no such thing 
as attraction. Newton, as I have before said, stated the moon's 
attraction in raising the tides to be about nine feet, and the sun's 
about two feet. Well then ; suppose the two bodies, when in con- 
junction, to be operating upon the ocean, with these forces com- 
bined, ought we not in all cases to have higher tides when these 
luminaries are so posited, than when they are in opposition ; that is to 
say, when the force of one is counteracting, and therefore deducting 
from, the force of the other ? Gravity, we are told, uniformly acts in 
straight lines, and with equal forces at equal distances ; and there- 
fore the tides ought to be four feet higher at the new than they are 
at the full moon. But these mathematical sophists, with most as- 
tonishing address, sometimes employ the imaginary force of gravity 
to attract, and at other times to repel, just as it may happen to suit 
their purpose ; they make it out that, it gives us a high tide soon 
after the moon passes the meridian at noon, and also another, soon 
after it passes the opposite meridian at midnight. 



213 



Days 



F.M, 



Heights 

of 
Tides. 



Years 
and 
Months. 



Days 

of 
N.M 



Heights 

of 
Tides. 



Difference 
in the Heights 



Full 

exceeds 
New. 



7 
6 
8 
7 
6 
5 
4 
3 
1 
30 
30 
28 
28 



26 
25 
26 
24 
24 
23 
22 
21 
19 
19 
17 
16 



F. 

16 
17 
17 
17 



16 8 
15 10 

17 5 
19 8 
21 2 



21 
20 
19 
18 



18 5 
18 1 
17 8 
16 11 
15 3 



15 
17 
19 

20 
20 
20 
19 



19 
20 
19 
18 
16 
15 
15 
17 
18 
19 - 

18 9 

19 8 



1803. 
January .... 
February . . . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July ........ 

August.. 
September .. 

October 

November .. 
December .. 
January .... 

1804. 
February . . . 
March.. .. 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 
October .. 
November 
December 
January .. 

1805. 
January .. 

March 

March .... 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August .... 
September 
October .. 
November 
December 



F. I. 

19 11 

21 9 

21 11 



21 
18 
16 



16 8 

17 1 
16 11 
16 7 
16 5 
16 4 

18 6 



20 
21 
21 
19 
18 
18 
18 



18 5 



17 

16 



15 11 

16 7 



18 3 

19 5 

20 2 
19 11 

18 10 

19 9 
19 9 
19 10 
19 4 
18 1 
16 9 
16 1 



- 8 
2 10 
4 1 

4 3 
9 



2 



1 4 
- 8 



- 11 

2 - 

3 7 



214 



Days 

of 
F.M. 


Heights 

of 
Tides. 


Years 
and 
Monlhs. 


Days 

of 
N. M 


Heights 

of 
Tides. 


in 


Difference 
the Heights. 


Full. 

exceeds 
New 


New. 
exceeds 
Full 




F. 


i. 


1806. 




F. 


i. 


F. 


I. 


F. 


i. 


4 


20 


2 


January .... 


19 


16 


11 


3 


11 






3 


21 


3 


February . .. 


18 


17 


7 


3 


8 






4 


21 


3 




20 


18 


2 


3 


1 






3 


20 


5 




18 


18 


7 


i 








2 


18 


5 


May 


18 


18 






5 






1 


16 


3 




16 


18 


5 






2 


2 


30 


16 


5 


July 


15 


20 


8 






4 


3 


30 


16 


5 


Au ° - ust ...... 


14 


20 


10 






4 


5 


29 


16 


10 


September .. 


12 


21 


1 






4 


3 


27 


17 


2 


October 


11 


20 


2 






3 


- 


27 


17 


3 


November .. 


10 


19 


1 






1 


10 


26 


18 


2 


December .. 


10 


17 


3 


- 


11 






25 


19 


5 


January .... 


8 


16 


7 


2 


10 












1807. 
















24 


21 


2 


February . . . 


7 


17 


4 


3 


10 






22 


21 


9 




9 


17 


7 


4 


2 






23 


21 


10 




8 


17 


4 


A 
*± 


o 






22 


20 


6 




7 


17 


3 


3 


3 






21 


18 


4 




6 


17 


3 


1 


1 






20 


17 


- 


July 


5 


18 


7 






1 


7 


19 


16 


6 


Au°*ust . 


3 


20 


1 






3 


4 


18 


16 


8 


September.. 


2 


21 


2 






4 


6 


16 


16 


10 


October .... 


] 


21 


1 






4 


3 


16 


16 


6 


October 


31 


20 


5 






3 


11 


15 


17 


_ 


November .. 


29 


19 


6 






2 


6 


15 


17 


8 


December .. 


29 


18 


5 






- 


9 








1S08. 
















13 


19 


5 


January 


27 


18 


1 


1 


4 






12 


21 


- 


February . . . 


26 


17 


6 


3 


6 






12 


21 


11 




27 


17 


5 


A 


o 






10 


21 


7 




25 


17 






7 






10 


20 


1 




25 


16 




4 


1 






8 


18 


11 




24 


16 


9 


2 


2 






7 

4 


18 


5 


Tulv .... 


23 


18 


7 








2 


6 


18 


2 




21 


39 


9 






1 


7 


4 


17 


5 


September .. 


20 


20 


6 






3 


1 


4 


16 


9 


October 


19 


20 


9 






4 




3 


16 


4 


November .. 


18 


20 


9 






4 


5 


3 


16 


7 


December .. 


17 


20 


1 






3 


6 



215 



Years 
and 
Months. 



Days 

of 
F.M. 


Heights 

of 
Tides. 


Years 
and 
Months. 


Days 

of 
N.M 


Heights 

of 
Tides. 


Difference 
of the Heights. 


Full 
exceeds 
New. 


New 
exceeds 
Fuil. 




F. 


i. 


1809. 




F. 




F. 




F. 


[. 


] 


17 


6 


January .... 


16 


19 


9 






2 


3 


31 


18 


11 


February . . . 


14 


19 


2 








3 


2 


20 


3 




16 


18 


7 


1 


8 






31 


21 


1 




14 


17 


9 


3 


4 






30 


20 


11 




13 


16 


1 


4 


10 






29 


19 


10 




15 


15 


10 


4 








27 


19 


10 


July 


15 


16 


8 


3 


2 






26 


19 


7 


August.. . 


15 


17 


10 


1 


9 






25 


19 


3 


September .. 


13 


18 


8 




7 






23 


18 


7 


October .... 


9 


19 


8 






1 


1 


23 


17 


8 


November .. 


7 


20 


1 






2 


5 


22 


16 


10 


December .. 


7 


20 


7 






3 


9 


21 


16 


7 


January 


5 


20 


10 






4 


3 








1810. 
















20 


17 


1 


February ... 


4 


20 


10 






3 


9 


19 


18 


2 


March 


5 


20 


7 






2 


5 


21 


19 


4 




4 


19 


11 








7 


19 


19 


11 




3 


19 


2 




9 






19 


19 


5 




2 


16 


8 


2 


9 






17 


19 


1] 




1 


16 


1 


3 


10 






16 


20 


3 


July 


31 


16 


5 


3 


10 






14 


2L 






30 


17 


3 


3 


9 






13 


20 


7 


September .. 


28 


17 


11 


2 


8 






12 


19 


8 


October 


28 


18 


5 


1 


3 






11 


18 


11 


November .. 


26 


19 


9 








10 


10 


17 


7 


December .. 


26 


20 


4 






2 


9 








1811. 
















9 


16 


9 


January 


24 


20 


11 






4 


2 


8 


17 


3 


February . . . 


23 


21 


9 






4 


6 


10 


17 


7 




24 


21 


3 






3 


8 


8 


to 


i 

X 




23 


Aj\J 


K 
O 








A 


8 


18 


3 




22 


18 


5 








2 


6 


18 


3 




20 


16 


11 


1 


4 






6 


19 


3 




20 


16 


3 


3 








4 


20 


6 




19 


16 


6 


4 








2 


21 


1 


September . . 


17 


16 


10 


4 


3 






2 


21 


2 


October .... 


16 


16 


9 


4 


5 






31 


20 


2 


November .. 


16 


IS 




2 


2 






30 


19 


5 


December .. 


15 


18 


8 




9 






29 


18 


2 


January 


14 


20 








1 


10 



1809. 
January 
January 

March 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September . . 

October 

November . . 
December .. 

1810. 
January .... 
February . . . 
March ...... 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September .. 

October 

November .. 
December .. 

1811. 
January ., 
February 
March . . . 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August. . . 
September 
October 
October .. 
November 
December 



216 



Years 
and 
Months. 

1812. 
January .... 
February . . . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September . . 
October .... 
November .. 
December .. 



Days 


Heights 


Years 


Days 


Heights 


of 


of 




and 


of 


of 


F.M. 


Tides. 


Months. 


N.M 


Tides. 




F. 


i. 


1812. 




F. I. 


28 


17 


5 


February . . . 


12 


21 6 


27 


17 


5 




13 


21 11 


28 


17 


7 




11 


21 10 


26 


17 






10 


20 5 


26 


16 


9 




9 


18 8 


24 


17 


4 


July 


8 


17 6 


24 


18 


9 


August 


7 


17 1 


22 


20 


1 


September . . 


5 


16 9 


20 


21 


2 


October .... 


4 


16 10 


20 


20 


1 


November .. 


4 


16 7 


18 


21 


2 


December .. 


4 


17 1 


18 


19 


9 


January .... 


2 


17 9 



Difference 
of the Height3. 



Full 


New 


exceeds 


exceeds 




Full. 


F. I. 


F. I. 




4 1 




4 6 




4 3 




2 7 




1 11 




- 2 



In the above table, the highest tides are inserted; the greatest 
rise takes place generally two or three days after the full and change 
of the moon. 

The column which contains the heights at the full moon, adds up 
2310 feet, 9 inches: and the column which contains the heights at the 
new moon, adds up 2311 feet, which sums, respectively, divided by 
124, the number of each, give 18 feet, 8 inches, nearly, for the mean 
of each. 

The first column of the differences, adds up 172 feet, 6 inches; and 
the second, 172 feet, 5 inches; which, divided by 62, give about 
2 feet, 9 inches for the mean, by which the tides at the full and change 
alternately exceed each other. 



THE END OF THE FIRST BOOK. 



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